Slashdot Mirror


Chinese Officials Need a Better Photoshopper

A clearly photoshopped picture of three Chinese officials inspecting a newly laid road is becoming an internet sensation. The picture posted on a local council's website, shows the men hovering a few inches off the ground with the edges of their bodies blurred. Government officials offer the following explanation: "...a professional photographer had been employed to photograph the three men inspecting the road surface. But after taking a set of real shots of the officials, the unnamed photographer decided that the pictures were just not good enough. With true artistic temperament he set about 'Photoshopping' the three men onto the empty road to create something better." Plenty of parody pictures have popped up already, and I look forward to seeing where the trio end up over the weekend.

84 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Hovering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Maybe they really ARE hovering!

    1. Re:Hovering by Xacid · · Score: 1

      Only leaders in North Korea are capable of such things.

  2. screw that by cshark · · Score: 1

    where can I find the parody pictures?

    --

    This signature has Super Cow Powers

    1. Re:screw that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      where can I find the parody pictures?

      The article has some.

    2. Re:screw that by rbrausse · · Score: 1

      you should know, the underlined text in TFS is called "link" and you can "click" it with your "mouse". Good luck!

    3. Re:screw that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That works in the summary, but not necessarily in the comments.

      You can't click links in any way in Chrome since Slashdot made its latest minor update.

    4. Re:screw that by wideBlueSkies · · Score: 1

      RTFA.

      --
      Huh?
    5. Re:screw that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Or in Firefox 5.

    6. Re:screw that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      What do you expect, it's tough for a web developer to keep up with these newfangled technologies like "links" and "checkboxes". I mean, this is only the 3rd time Slashdot has broken the site in the exact same fucking way.

    7. Re:screw that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They don't work in Safari either anymore. Even before, there was already the problem that clicking a link resulted in simply expanding the parent comment. Only once all comments until the root had been expanded (one click required for each expansion, plus every time scrolling back to the link you were actually interested in), the link itself would work.

    8. Re:screw that by Culture20 · · Score: 2

      Look on the bright side: no Rick-rolling.

    9. Re:screw that by Golddess · · Score: 1

      Or 3.6. Double-right-clicking brings up the right-click menu though, and from there you can select your desired option.

      --
      "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
    10. Re:screw that by perryizgr8 · · Score: 1

      firefox too

      --
      Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
    11. Re:screw that by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      Yes, you can! I just figured out how.

      Go into options of whatever browser you have, and block "javascript can change or disable context menus".

      Works in firefox, not only can I now rightclick/copy link, but normal left click also miraculously works.

    12. Re:screw that by LordLimecat · · Score: 3, Informative

      Disable Javascript's ability to change or disable context menus, and everything works again. Hurrah!

    13. Re:screw that by LordLimecat · · Score: 1

      if you adjust the comment level sliders, it will expand all the parents as well.

    14. Re:screw that by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 1

      The article also appears to have audio ads which automatically play and have no obvious way to kill other than adblock or closing the page.

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    15. Re:screw that by asdf7890 · · Score: 1

      Flashblock (or script block if you want to go one further). Auto-playing audio adverts are the main reason I installed that in the first place. Also useful for video ads when I'm mobile and don't have that much bandwidth to throw at something I couldn't give a rat's arse about.

    16. Re:screw that by kodefive · · Score: 1

      Thank you! Slashdot is now no longer broken from my point of view.

  3. haha oh wait by alphatel · · Score: 1

    So how does this beat gary busey meme?

    --
    When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
  4. keyword:floating officials by Tei · · Score: 1

    If you want to see more images about this, the keyword seems "floating officials". Anyway I can't see much.

    --

    -Woof woof woof!

  5. Job transfer... by TarpaKungs · · Score: 1

    Someone is going to find they have a new job soon. Farming rabbit droppings in Mongolia...

    --
    Why can't women be like Hedy Lamarr - beautiful, talented and inventors of frequency-hopping spread-spectrum techn
  6. Multiple parody pictures by Ross+R.+Smith · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://patriciachan.com/2011/06/how-to-not-photoshop-official-government-photos-funny-chinese-bad-photoshop-sensation/#respond

    Direct link to small paragraph on story and contains many of the parody photos for those interested.

    1. Re:Multiple parody pictures by anss123 · · Score: 1

      Oh wait, replied to the wrong post. Sorry.

    2. Re:Multiple parody pictures by Ross+R.+Smith · · Score: 1

      You will be!

      *shakes fist in the air*

    3. Re:Multiple parody pictures by PitaBred · · Score: 1

      Not sure how that's NSFW, but whatever. What's sad is that many of the parodies are significantly better than the original photoshop

    4. Re:Multiple parody pictures by anss123 · · Score: 1

      I managed to reply to the wrong post. It's the Chinasmack link that is NSFW

    5. Re:Multiple parody pictures by memyselfandeye · · Score: 1

      By the by, as funny as the parodies are ,what's with the original? The guy on the right looks like he's pointing to the ground and saying "Ah... look how close I am to the edge." And the others are just looking onward, as if to say, "Chan is a very brave man for walking so close to that edge. We should all be very proud of this very safe road that one can walk on the edge so close without falling over."

    6. Re:Multiple parody pictures by perryizgr8 · · Score: 1

      even middle click is not working for me. i have to drag and drop, both in ie9 and ff5

      --
      Wealth is the gift that keeps on giving.
    7. Re:Multiple parody pictures by jacksonyee · · Score: 1

      The best thing about these parody pictures is that they actually made it onto CCTV Nightly News, one of the most watched programs in China where I first saw these pictures. I do have to say that I'm rather partial to the moon landing one where they're in the background myself. 8-)

    8. Re:Multiple parody pictures by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      They made it onto Closed Circuit TV?

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    9. Re:Multiple parody pictures by brilanon · · Score: 1

      the original is probably also fake

      the soviets did much better image doctoring than that, decades ago

  7. This is news? by ctrimm · · Score: 1

    This is what qualifies as news? I know /. has been slipping a bit lately, but seriously?

    1. Re:This is news? by RivenAleem · · Score: 2

      News?

      THIS. IS. IDLE!

    2. Re:This is news? by NetNed · · Score: 1

      And it's old to. Saw it a couple days ago. In slash dot days that's 4 or 5 years old!

    3. Re:This is news? by .tekrox · · Score: 1

      >Saw it a couple days ago. In slash dot days that's 4 or 5 years old!
      No, it's about repost time.

  8. More info + spoof Photoshops by doctor_no · · Score: 2

    ChinaSmack has much more detailed coverage on this story, including translated Chinese netizen reactions and ton of photoshops. There are only a few ways that the Chinese can criticize the "ZF" (Chinese Government), these sorts of harmless mockery is one of them.

    http://www.chinasmack.com/2011/pictures/floating-chinese-government-officials-stun-netizens.html

    1. Re:More info + spoof Photoshops by neurophil12 · · Score: 2

      ^ NSFW

  9. Ahh, dear old Daily Mail... by EyeballKid · · Score: 3, Informative

    ...you'd never resort to such crassness, would you?
    http://www.mailwatch.co.uk/category/photoshop-disaster/

  10. For those too lazy to read more than the summary by FrootLoops · · Score: 1

    The men did in fact visit the road, as evidenced by a couple of real pictures in the article. It really seems to be an honest mistake by someone terrible at image editing.

  11. they should get the Soviet Russia guys they did a by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    they should get the Soviet Russia guys they did a better job with out photo shop or a pc.

  12. Perfect opportunity lost by RivenAleem · · Score: 1

    to use the tag "from the I've-seen-a-few-in-my-time dept."

  13. Re:they should get the Soviet Russia guys they did by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

    they should get the Soviet Russia guys they did a better job with out photo shop or a pc.

    I've seen one example where they edited out Stalin(after he died, of course) in a film of he and Lenin together by superimposing the upper torso of a guy in a Red Army uniform on the film so that it covered up Stalin.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  14. No extra clicking by jitterman · · Score: 2

    This site provides them without having to click on thumbnails.

    --
    For conscience is the wound, and there's naught to staunch it
    1. Re:No extra clicking by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 1

      Hehe, I like the one with the dogs having a threesome...

  15. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by Culture20 · · Score: 1

    I'd say an honest mistake would be something like using redeye reduction and removing all red in the photo. This was an attempt to create a new scene where they admired the road while showing off their godly powers of levitation.

  16. Chinese people CAN hover! by Zaatxe · · Score: 2

    I know it, I've seen "Croucing Tiger, Hidden Dragon"!

    --
    So say we all
  17. Well that's why it's an amazing road by bigsexyjoe · · Score: 1

    The levitating road allows vehicles to sail and move by fan power with no friction for much greater fuel efficiency. China is right for being proud of this road.

  18. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by Arlet · · Score: 2

    So ? This is no different than any fashion photo on the cover of a magazine.

  19. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by rtfa-troll · · Score: 1

    "Sorry gov; I didn't realise my right hand was photoshopping the image".

    --
    =~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
  20. Better Photoshopper, or Better Photographer? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If a poorly 'shopped pic is still better than the original, then maybe you need a better photographer.

  21. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I dunno. The Chinese Olympics broadcast featured digital fireworks and a little girl lip-syncing the national anthem because the little girl singing it wasn't pretty enough. At some point you move from "honest mistake" to "culture where appearances are deemed more important than reality" - to say nothing of material things, like their famously unreliable economic data.

    Myself, I'm more of an "esse quam videre" kind of guy (to borrow the North Carolina state motto).

  22. WTC by sgauss · · Score: 1

    I think they need to be inspecting the top of the WTC, ala the famous photo-shopped pic with the plane in the background.

  23. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by Culture20 · · Score: 1

    A fashion photo is intended to be a work of art, not an accurate record of government officials' actions (even actions as boring as admiring a road while levitating).

  24. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by Rockoon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Thats a cultural bias that you are expressing.

    It could just as easily be the other way around.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  25. this shopped photo by FudRucker · · Score: 1

    is symbolic of everything wrong with "Made in China" = cheap, poorly engineered and poorly manufactured with inferior parts

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    1. Re:this shopped photo by Abreu · · Score: 1

      They said the same about "Made in Japan" in the 1960's and 70's

      --
      No sig for the moment.
    2. Re:this shopped photo by That+Guy+From+Mrktng · · Score: 1

      Yeah, one would say that if they can make their officials levitate they can create a levitating bridge, but no! the have to create a normal bridge, a normal boring 22 mile normal bridge. Massive fail if you ask me, why do they even try? /s

    3. Re:this shopped photo by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Aww, that's nothing.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake_Bay_Bridge-Tunnel

      A whole mile longer, and it has a tunnel in the middle for ships to pass over.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
  26. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by Arlet · · Score: 1

    The photo of the government officials was a pretty accurate record. The picture of the three men was taken when they were admiring the new road, and the background was an actual picture of that same road.

    The photoshopped picture was merely a small cosmetic change to remove the glare on the road that was originally in the background.

  27. Re:FFS! by Khashishi · · Score: 1

    :s/photographer/guy with camera/

  28. Either dead or in work camp by Niris · · Score: 1

    That photographer is either dead or in a work camp by now.

    1. Re:Either dead or in work camp by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Why do people think that China is some kind of giant Stalinist gulag? It's a fairly average, run-of-the-mill authoritarian regime these days. Yes, you will get kicked out of your job for that kind of thing, and will probably have troubles insofar as corrupt local authorities depicted can create them for you (I dunno, police regularly stopping to check papers?). No, they won't shoot or imprison you for the smallest mistake. For that matter, the law spells out what you have to do to get there, for the most part, and to get extralegal harassment, you need to be a persistent pain in the ass (well-publicized human rights protester or somesuch). Common folk don't live in daily fear that black vans will come and take them away.

  29. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by Culture20 · · Score: 1

    Thats a cultural bias that you are expressing. It could just as easily be the other way around.

    Yes, I know. The Communist cultural bias is that portrayals of government actions or photos depicting actual reality should be works of art, molded for best propaganda, but fashion is a worthless endeavor and everyone should wear gray and red. That doesn't mean that my cultural bias isn't a better cultural bias though.

  30. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by sydneyfong · · Score: 1

    Come on, you seriously think only in Communist China do people lipsync on stage?

    And what's wrong with digital fireworks? Do you think realistic computer rendered animations are bad too? Or do you believe that every single bit of the movies you watch are "real"?

    Gosh you guys (you and the moderators who modded this up) are dense.

    --
    Don't quote me on this.
  31. Reminds me... by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    This reminds me of the Chinese 'spacewalk' with the bubbles rolling around the astronaut. Whatever happened there, did we just accept that they actually did a spacewalk?

    --
    -Styopa
    1. Re:Reminds me... by MaDeR · · Score: 1

      "did we just accept"
      USA, Russia and a dozen other nations have tools for independent verification of someone flying to space. These newfangled, barely 50-year old tech like telemetry or radar, maybe you heard about them. China cannot bullshit in this particular departament.

      --
      What modern Obelix would say today? Of course, "Those crazy Americans!".
  32. That's China... by Stormwatch · · Score: 2

    They're so used to lying to the people that they will lie even when they don't have to.

  33. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by mzs · · Score: 1

    When they replace one individual with another, which they did the fellow that's not facing the camera, it's not an honest mistake or bad chopping skills anymore.

  34. Meh by NetNed · · Score: 1

    Some alright parodies, but when it hits the level of the Ed Hightower parodies, then I'll be impressed. They are not all winners, but there are some gems in there.

  35. Thank God it's Friday by cyfer2000 · · Score: 1

    Funny. I love the shadow.

    --
    There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
  36. Propaganda? by Torodung · · Score: 2

    Look, I understand it's the Chinese, and we officially don't like them or their human rights record, but if this sort of picture rises to the level of "propaganda," then we need to call what used to be named "propaganda" (i.e.: Pictures that inflame nationalism, demonize a political enemy, or move people to high emotion over what is actually mundane, or at least literally mislead or lie about the nature of something important) something else.

    This is a publicity shot, as is every ribbon cutting ever filmed in the States or Britain. Not everything the Chinese government does rises to the level of "propaganda."

    The Photoshopping is just "incompetence." Again, I don't think it rises to the level of "propaganda." It's hilarious, but not nefarious.

  37. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by ArcadeNut · · Score: 1

    "culture where appearances are deemed more important than reality"

    Oh, you mean like the USA? Here we value appearance over reality every day.

    --
    Visit the Arcade Restoration Workshop @ http://www.arcaderestoration.com
  38. Praise be China! by gnujunkie · · Score: 1

    This photo was obviously created to show the world that Chinese people can fly, now we all fear them... duh

    1. Re:Praise be China! by MadMaverick9 · · Score: 1
      you mean levitate. what these three men are doing is not flying.

      levitate
      To rise or cause to rise into the air and float in apparent defiance of gravity.

  39. Re:they should get the Soviet Russia guys they did by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

    The classic photo demonstrating the impressive photoshopping skills of Soviet journalists(50 years before Photoshop appeared is the one with Stalin and Yezhov: before and after.

  40. Shadows by not_surt · · Score: 1

    Vampires don't cast shadows. I'm just saying.

  41. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by FrootLoops · · Score: 1

    That person is in the second real picture from the article. He seems to have really visited the site. I don't see how that bit of editing is any different from modifying the background. The overall image shows that the three visited the road, which takes both of the other pictures to get across.

  42. Re:For those too lazy to read more than the summar by FrootLoops · · Score: 1

    I would I could mod this funny. By "mistake", I meant the incredibly low quality of the final image was a mistake. In retrospect that usage is a bit non-standard.

  43. Get your browser history right by wye43 · · Score: 1

    "We believe that Internet Explorer is a really good browser" - Steve Jobs, 1997

    I know this is Slashdot and there was some disastrous stuff happening with IE6, but lets get facts right.

    Back in 1997, IE4 was launched. IE4 and IE5 WERE really good browsers. They introduced the new DHTML engine in IE4, and it was WAY faster and more powerful and more stable than the real alternative at that time, which was Netscape 4.

    1. Re:Get your browser history right by MaDeR · · Score: 1

      Who gives a crap about your coprolite archeology?

      --
      What modern Obelix would say today? Of course, "Those crazy Americans!".
  44. Re:Not much worse than Obama's Birth Certificate by MaDeR · · Score: 1

    Big deal is with your brain.

    --
    What modern Obelix would say today? Of course, "Those crazy Americans!".
  45. photoshop idea by xlovenuggetx · · Score: 1

    shop them standing on bacteria or an ameoba.