People photoshopping it obfuscates the fact that the official photo, not retouched or fiddled with, appears itself to be the product of digital masking/compositing e.g. ‘photoshopping’. That is why everyone appears evenly studio lit without obstructions, that’s because they were, and what gives it the ‘cardboard cutout’ look. When people stand around, there are ‘light wells’ between people and lower down. The government doesn’t have super secret office lighting that miraculously illuminates everything like that.
"The government doesn’t have super secret office lighting that miraculously illuminates everything like that."
Apologies.. I have no idea what I was talking about.. I think I misread what you had typed.