Stinkyjournalism.org
       Topics     Stinky News Count      
webby_award webby_award
 
December 19, 2008
National Geographic investigates Photo Contest Winner:
Did the Indian photographer use Photoshop?
by Rhonda Roland Shearer, StinkyJournalism.org

  Print Email Add a comment Comments(1)
National Geographic investigates Photo Contest Winner:
Did Shibnath Basu from India enter the 2008 National Geographic photo contest after using Photoshop to create his winning image? National Geographic is investigating.
 

Shibnath Basu from India entered what many think was a fake photo in the 2008 International Photography Contest at National Geographic--and won "Viewers' Choice." Once his alleged deception was reported on Photoshopdisasters, National Geographic withdrew the photo without comment or correction on the contest page.   

Basu's caption said, "These shallow waters are mainly famous for flamingos at Nal Sarovar near Ahmedabad,Gujarat, India. The picture shows the reflection of clouds on water." 

Even though Photoshopdisasters declared the image a fake, Ellen Stanley, Vice President, Communications said they are still investigating and sent StinkyJournalism a statement. 

It said, "The International Photography Contest from National Geographic has sparked unparalleled interest from photographers around the world, with some 220,000 submissions this year worldwide. The rules of the competition clearly state that no altered images can be submitted. It has come to our attention that one of the Viewers’ Choice winners of the English-language competition might be an altered image. When we asked our panel of photography experts to review it, they believed it to be questionable. To give the photographer the benefit of the doubt, we asked him to send us the source negative, which we have not yet received. For now, we will remove the image from the Web site until the matter is resolved." A Dec 17 blog post by Rob Covey on Nat Geo web site repeats this same official statement.

StinkyJournalism will let readers know about the outcome of Nat Geo's investigation. 

  » source      » more media picks
  Print Email Add a comment Comments(1)


COMMENTS 

by Shawn | May 7, 2009 at 02:14 AM EST

Has anyone else noticed that the clouds in the water are not a reflection of, but a continuation of the cloud? It's obviously a fake. Again, the images do not "mirror" each other.

 reply Abuse

 
About Us      Art Science Research Laboratory, Inc.      Email Us: info@asrlab.org      Sign Up for Mailing List      Site Map      RSS Feed
© 2009 StinkyJournalism.org   62 Greene Street, New York, NY 10012      Tel:(212) 925-8812      Fax:(212) 925-0459