One class the library offers that is growing in popularity is on Gimp, a pretty powerful photo-editing app. I love seeing how entranced people get when they learn just how easy it really is to totally fake a photo. It's one of those skills like lock-picking; most people would never in a million years use it for evil, but isn't it kinda fun to see how it's done?
Well, the technology behind photo editing is well ahead of the technology to detect such trickery. There have been some efforts by companies like Adobe to insert data into images indicating their authenticity. Those efforts have largely fallen flat, though. Detection largely relies on the trained human eye.
So how's it done, in this age when anyone with a computer has access to tools like Gimp?
Here's a guide I mentioned in the class, from the always impressive magazine Scientific American.
Even if you don't have much need for such detective work in your own life, the techniques can be pretty interesting. One, for example, takes the shape of the subject's pupil into account to determine whether his or her angle from the camera has been toyed with. Never woulda' thought of that.
Well, the technology behind photo editing is well ahead of the technology to detect such trickery. There have been some efforts by companies like Adobe to insert data into images indicating their authenticity. Those efforts have largely fallen flat, though. Detection largely relies on the trained human eye.
So how's it done, in this age when anyone with a computer has access to tools like Gimp?
Here's a guide I mentioned in the class, from the always impressive magazine Scientific American.
Even if you don't have much need for such detective work in your own life, the techniques can be pretty interesting. One, for example, takes the shape of the subject's pupil into account to determine whether his or her angle from the camera has been toyed with. Never woulda' thought of that.
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