Defence.lk caught with more fake photographs

By Sunil Devan

Today in an article titled "LTTE plot for mass scale chemical attack bared" the government has posted the following photograph, which is so obviously altered that it is ridiculous:

Please click on the photo to see an enlarged version. The entire photograph has been created using repetitive pattern brushes. Note the bushes on the left of the two people. See how the exact same pattern repeats itself throughout the bush. A similar pattern occurs on the right side of the people. There is a very clear split in the photo between the people and the background, indicating the photograph was not taken in the Vanni at all. This is a studio photograph, pasted on top of a picture in the Vanni, but the job is done so poorly that anyone can see it is fake.

We have been proving time and time again that the Sri Lankan government lies to their own citizens, and has been releasing false information for months. Just this week the Sri Lankan military was caught showing pictures of dead Sinhala soldiers, claiming they were bodies of LTTE fighters. Now this latest case just futher proves that there is no level the Sri Lankan government won't stoop to in order to stop the freedom struggle of the Tamil people.

Below are some closeups of the edited photograph:

See the drastic change from one photograph's background into the other photograph's background. The trees and bushes were added on top of the picture.

Note that the same light pattern on the leaves repeats itself 5 times in a row.

Note the two wires. The bottom one is copied pixel for pixel from the top one. Also note that the bottom wire disappears in midair due to a bad smudge effect. To make it clearer to you, below we have enlarged the two wire sections 400% and placed them next to each other. Note that every single pixel is identical (click for enlargements):

Both wires identical pixel for pixel.

Note the blue tarpaulin suddenly becomes the walking path! Also note the brownish walking path has been created using a square pattern repeated several times. You can see the square pattern clearly where it joins the bushes. The brown walking path also is painted on top of the soldiers leg!

In this picture the blue tarpaulin was "created" by copying from an area with a different lighting, so there is a stark contrast between the tarpaulin the soldier is standing on, and the "created" tarpaulin just to his right. One is light blue, one is dark grey.

Here you can clearly see a patern repeated to fill the bottom right corner of the main photograph. Those who have used photoshop, are very familiar with this technique.

Another sloppy example of using a pattern to create the walking path. Note that in some places the walking path is on top of the tarpaulin. This is a sign that the editor was a complete amature. Also note the blue smudge on the right side of the walking path. The editor accidentally copied a piece of the tarpaulin onto the path when he meant to take a "sample" of the path to replicate elsewhere. Again it shows he is a complete amature.

The same light pattern is repeated three times, indicating it is a pattern being copied from elsewhere to fill the background.

Notice the yellow and red flower on the left is pixel for pixel identical to the flower on the right.

Now go back and click on the original photograph so that you can see it expanded 500%, and look through it to see some of these things I have pointed out. It will not only be completely apparent that the photograph has been edited, but it will also be clear that it was edited by a half-blind idiot.

What this case shows is that the Sri Lankan government thinks the sinhalese are foolish idiots. They think they can shovel piles of horse crap on them, and they will keep their mouth open wide asking for more while clapping their hands and cheering. The sinhalese are in complete denial, refusing to accept that their government would ever mislead them about the war. In this case the lie is just a harmless photograph, but what about the lie about the sinhalese who have died in this war? There have been over 20,000 sinhalese soldiers killed in fighting over the last one year, but the Sri Lankan government keeps feeding you piles of horse crap like this photograph, saying there have been no casualties. The same is the case with regards to Tamil civilian casualties. There have been thousands and thousands of innocent civilians killed in this fighting by the government, but they continue to lie to the country saying no one has been killed. Everyone needs to wake up and realize these politicians are cheaters, and their only aim is to fill their own pockets. They neither care about the unity of the country, nor about Sri Lanka's citizens.

Postscript: After seeing this article, the Sri Lankan government first removed the photo from their website in an attempt to cover the truth, but the AFP press wire had already published it online along with many newspapers. As a result, many hours after having deleted the photo, the Sri Lankan government again placed the photo on their website with the caption, "The background of the image has been altered due to extreme security concerns". Since the photo had already been published by AFP, their only option was to pretend the photo was meant to be edited.