A photograph of four missiles being fired by Iran ratcheted up the tensions between the Islamic state and the US and Israel. But now it appears that Tehran may have enhanced the pictures.
The photographs originated from the media arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards (who knew?). While a widely used image shows four missiles heroically zooming through the air ...
... The original shows three rockets launching with a fourth apparently failing to fire.
AFP retracted its four-missile version this morning, saying that it was "apparently digitally altered". So have Iranian state media been using Photoshop?
Almost certainly. Fiona Shields of the Guardian picture desk has this to add:
In this age of digital imagery it's very simple to manipulate a picture. Software allows you to clone or replicate parts of an image which can easily be spotted in this example when you examine the patterns in the smoke billowing out from beneath the missiles to the right blended with the vapour trail on the two missiles in the centre.It's a very crude example of the technique as the skill involved in photo manipulation is in disguising any repetitive patterns.
