Photographer Has Two Units of Pictures Falsely Accused of Being Faux on the Identical Day

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Split image: On the left, ocean waves with a city skyline and bridge in the background. On the right, two flamingos stand in shallow water with several ducks and blurred trees behind them.
The surf breaks because the San Diego skyline shimmers behind, left, flamingos Pink Floyd and Pink Flo, proper.

A photographer says he feels vindicated after he had not one however two units of photographs falsely accused of being pretend on the identical day.

San Diego-based photographer Randy Dible captured photographs of two wild flamingos known as Pink Floyd and Pink Flo which can be well-known within the space. That identical day, he additionally took photographs of the surf breaking with the San Diego skyline and Coronado Bridge behind.

Two vibrant pink flamingos fly low over a blue body of water, with houses, palm trees, and a clear sky visible in the background.
Randy Dible
A large wave in the ocean with a bridge in the background.
Randy Dible

Wanna Bet?

On Dible’s Instagram page, some customers known as the photographs of the surf pretend; unable to consider that it’s attainable get such a photograph. One individual was so certain Dible had composited the photographs that he really wager the photographer $1,000 that he couldn’t show their authenticity.

Despite some locals accusing Dible of chicanery, the surf photographer tells CBS San Diego that he “doesn’t even have Photoshop,” and what the doubters fail to know is that he’s utilizing a really lengthy telephoto lens.

A breaking ocean wave in the foreground with a city skyline and a long, blue bridge in the background under a clear sky.
Dible calls this vantage level a “secret spot”.

Metadata Mix-Up

Dible submitted the flamingo photographs to CBS San Diego for airing. But the manufacturing workforce there rejected them over a questionable timestamp. The metadata confirmed that Dible shot the photographs within the yr 2000, 26 years in the past. But it was just because Dible’s digital camera clock wasn’t set accurately.

“It caused me enough pause to where I felt like we shouldn’t run these photos because I was not 100% confident that they were legitimate,” says story desk editor Katy Stegall.

Dible had no concept his digital camera’s clock wasn’t set. “If I have to prove myself where and when it took these photos, then of course I’m going to change the timestamp,” he provides

Two flamingos stand in shallow water with ducks nearby. In the background, there are large modern buildings and trees under a clear blue sky.

Two flamingos run and flap their wings across the surface of a calm body of water, with splashes behind them. A cityscape and mountains are visible in the background under a clear blue sky.

Two flamingos stand in shallow water with several ducks swimming nearby. In the background, there is a cityscape with buildings and hills under a hazy sky.

Dible later took a reporter from CBS 8 to the spot the place he took the surf photographs to show as soon as and for all that they’re genuine. And for good measure, the flamingos Pink Floyd and Pink Flo turned up on the identical time to show that these photographs had been actual too.

PetaPixel’s Take

We actually do stay in a world of worry and loathing in relation to photographs. Presumptuous folks on social media and even skilled organizations have suspicious minds — it now appears photographers are responsible till confirmed harmless.

One take a look at Randy Dible’s website and Instagram, and it’s abundantly clear that this can be a man with a lifelong ardour for images who isn’t fascinated by fakery, simply taking nice photos.

It’s a tragic state of affairs that has been turbocharged by AI know-how, which might imitate nice pictures with scary ranges of verisimilitude.

Nevertheless, there’s a lesson right here for photographers: set your digital camera’s timestamp accurately and take into account geotagging footage. It would possibly make it straightforward to show that your work is real.


Image credit: Photographs by Randy Dible




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