[hennie pennie]

Say, do you happen to know, if before the time of photoshop, if the CIA would doctor photographs in order to provide some props about the agent's backstory?

Just curious.

[muawiyah]

Would or Could?

The guys in the Kremlin used to do this regularly.

They used to have a May Day parade every year in Moscow. There'd be all the big dogs lining Lenin's tomb looking out over the parade.

Official pictures were made and circulated throughout the country.

Every now and then one of the big dogs would fall out of favor. The guys in the Kremlin would airbrush out the bad guy, fill in the background, and publish a whole new set of official photos for nationwide circulation.

They didn't bat an eye.

[muawiyah]

BTW, just went through all the photos ~ some of the materials are hilarious. On the other hand I'm related to the Dunham crowd HUNDREDS of times over the last 350 years ~ and Grandpa Dunham in one of the photos has his mouth open enough that I can see the work of a "marker gene" that gives many of "us cousins" a peculiar toothline (horizontally and vertically) in the left lower jaw.

That means the introduction of that gene into my line occurred a bit further back than I'd thought. Must do more work on these people.

BTW, that jawline comes from someone else ~ not anyone on my line.

Regarding the bump out that makes it look like Obama's head was pasted on someone else's body ~ he has a collar on his white shirt. It's an optical illusion. The illusion is enhanced with the red circle drawn around his head.

Both the KGB and CIA had artists capable of far more elaborate changes than any proposed in this photo set.

In more recent times you can do anything with anybody. Guy who worked for a CIA contractor showed me a color photo of HIllary Clinton's visit with Pope John Paul II. He had his hand on her tailbone.

[I Shall Endure]

Anything Photoshop can do, can be done in a conventional “wet” darkroom. It just takes MUCH more time/skill.