I am probably going to get flamed here, but I downloaded that picture, and loaded it into Photoshop, where I could zoom in and examine things at a pixel level.
(I do a lot of graphics work for my job)
I do not think this is fake. Zoom into where the grandfather’s arm would be if it were at his side, you see bench slats. What you can see is where his arm could be behind B.O.’s back and shoulder area. Look at the “shoulder” area of the grandpa. What you can see is a highlighted fold of fabric where your sleeve might wrinkle should your elbow be bent to put your hand over B.O.’s shoulder.
Now, I have no great love for B.O. and his largely missing past, but I would focus efforts on more substantial things than this photo, or you will be made out to be some sort of kook.
Do you mind dragging Zero holding the baton in his Harvard Law class picture into Photoshop and seeing if it looks Kosher?
I looked hard...don’t agree...granddad’s hand looks photoshopped.
Your photo analysis is correct, and you probably WILL get flamed for it. This is a non-story.
I’m limited to an iPad at the moment, so I couldn’t do any photoshopping. I printed out the photo, then cut it up like paper dolls.
I cut Madelyn out, and moved her closer to Stanley. She fits perfectly beside him, with her elbow just slightly overlapping the edge of his shirt at his belly. Coincidentally, there is a curved line on his shirt which coincides exactly with the shape of her elbow, at exactly the location where her elbow rests when I push them together. Perfect fit.
I cut the floating hand out, and it fits perfectly on Madelyn’s shoulder, except for a gap where the top of her shoulder appears to have been shaved off. Notice she is turned slightly toward her right in relation to her lower body, which would naturally raise her left shoulder slightly, and yet it slopes downward.
Try this: sit straight on a bench, in front of a mirror. Shift your knees to the left. Now turn your torso toward the right, and lean against a person seated on your right.. What happens to your left shoulder? It raises slightly. How hard is it to lower that shoulder in this position? Without changing the position of the rest of your body. Don’t scrunch your head down against your right shoulder either. See what I mean? Unless she had some kind of deformity, the top of her shoulder has been photoshopped out. Why? Because that’s where Stanley’s hand was.
The floating hand rests perfectly where her shoulder would likely be, if it wasn’t shaved down to make up for the fact that the hand was photoshopped out. Notice the seam on her left shoulder compared to the seam on her right shoulder. There is some shoulder missing there.
Notice the position of Stanley’s left shoulder, indicating that his upper arm is pointed down and slightly back. Unless he’s an orangutan, there’s no way his hand could be high up enough to float above Barry’s shoulder. But with his upper arm in that position, his hand would fit perfectly on Madelyn’s shoulder. When I moved her over to him, and moved his hand onto her shoulder, it looked natural, resting on what would be her shoulder, if you fill in what was obviously cut off of her shoulder when the hand was cut out.
Stanley’s knee rests perfectly against Madelyn’s thigh. There is something very awkward about the position of Barry’s legs. Either his left thigh is fatter than his right thigh, or his left hip is higher than his right hip. Something just doesn’t look right. The position of his lower left leg looks just like it does in that photo of him sitting on a sofa with his buddy, but the upper leg doesn’t support that position. It’s just weird.
Now look at the wall between Barry’s arm and his torso. Notice the horizontal line of mortar between stones, where none should exist. It appears to be a copy/paste from another part of the wall. Possibly the section of wall they moved Madelyn in front of. There should not be a seam between stones there.
my husband also works with graphics and agrees with you - and he is definitely no fan!!
to all: re: the overexposure of the grandparents... hubby says light skinned people next to someone so dark would make it necessary to overexposure the light skinned people.
But about that literary agent....