ANOTHER Obama Document Doctored

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Analysis and Authentication ofPhoto of Young Barack Obama and Family

July 13, 2012

There seem to be several suspicious anomalies in thisamily photo depicting President Obama as a child alongwith his hal-sister, mother and grandather. All suspectedalterations to the photo seem to point to the cutting, pasting,and airbrushing o Barack Obamas mother, Ann Dunham,

into the photo to cover up someone o Arican-American origin.

Robert Nikolakakis, Montreal, CanadaProfessional Graphic Artist/ Illustrator

Photo Source: Barack Obama Personal Facebook Page

Copyright 2012

Contact: [email protected]

ObamasRealFather.com


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a) Just above young Barack Obamas right arm (viewers let), there seems to be anindefnable object that obscures the pattern on his mothers dress. It seems curiouslyout o place a likely remnant rom the photo prior to it being doctored.


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b) Just below young Obamas right arm (viewers let), where the bottom outline ohis arm overlaps his mothers arm, there is a ghosting eect where a slight glowemanates rom around his arm. Its most obvious as you ollow the outline o hismothers arm rom the outside in towards his arm. The shading that defnes the ormo her arm rom beneath should become darker as it nears Obamas arm but insteadit lightens. This would suggest that there may have once been an underlying imagethat depicted a pale material such as a light-colored shirt behind Obama.


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c) Perhaps the most blatant anomaly in this image is his mothers right hand. It is tuckedbeneath Obamas armpit, jutting out slightly. Given that the scene is primarily lit romabove and slightly to the let, one would expect her hand to be reasonably well litwith a small shadow cast on it rom Obamas shoulder but instead it appears to be incomplete darkness (a stark contrast to rest o the image). It is my opinion that thishand is a remnant o the image beore it was touched up or airbrushed. To me, itlooks more like the hand o an Arican-American individual.


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d) His mothers hair is also suspect. In every other photo that Ive seen o Stanley AnnDunham rom that time period, her hair is well defned with slight curls rom topto bottom. However in this photo, the ends take on a smudged or blurred look thatwould suggest rizzy ends. But this is a common eect in old, airbrushed photos the artist or photographer responsible, not wanting to bother with the painstakingdetail o painting in every strand o hair, would just use the airbrush to essentiallyake it.


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e) The tonal values on Obamas mother appear to be on the paler side in comparisonto the rest o the amily, although one could argue that she had a air complexion.However, she is lit rom a dierent angle than the rest o the amily. As mentionedearlier (point c), the scene is primarily lit rom above and slightly to the let, butObamas mother is being lit rom arther to the let. You could argue that there is abright external light source and that she is nearest to it, however Obama is relativelyclose to it also and yet he does not seem to be at all lit rom that same external lightsource. This would suggest that his mothers image was taken rom a dierent photoand airbrushed into this one.

(e)


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) Upon inspection o the seats in the background, it is airly obvious that the seats onthe let are brown or discolored in comparison to the clean, pristine, white seats onthe right. One could argue that the seats on the right had been recently replacedwith new ones at the time this photo was shot but the biggest anomaly here, or me,is that those on the let do not align with those on the right. It is made evident whenlines are drawn ollowing the length o the support bars below them. The lines romthe let criss-cross with those o the right. This would suggest that either the twochairs on the let are on a dierent support bar than those on the right OR that theimages in this photo were manipulated.


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As this version o the photo is digital and in the orm o a JPEG fle, I would ocourse preer to examine a physical version o the photo OR a high-resolutiondigital version o it to come to a without a shadow o a doubt conclusion.

However, in my proessional opinion, there is a very strong possibility that this

photograph has been doctored; most likely through the technique o piecingtogether photos or negatives and the use o an airbrush to seamlessly blend them orthrough modern digital means. All suspected alterations to the photo seem to pointto the cutting, pasting, and airbrushing o Barack Obamas mother, Ann Dunham,into the photo to cover up someone o Arican-American origin.

Robert Nikolakakis, owner, Rob Niko Design and Illustration

Robert Nikolakakis is an illustrator and graphic designer with 21 years oexperience. He has created websites, corporate identities, editorial illustrations,photo retouches and photo-manipulations or a diverse client base including flmstudios, magazine publishers and photography studios.

A seasoned Photoshop expert, Mr. Nikolakakis has honed his photo-retouchingand color correction skills. He is best known or his expertise in digital ageprogression. His work in this area is highly sought ater and has appeared inprint in Olivia Magazine, Star Systeme, Weekly World News and The Sun; in

television on Inside Edition; and on flm in the 2011 documentary How to LiveForever. He as also served as a consultant or old age special eects makeup andhas contributed to tutorials on the topic o photo-manipulation.

Mr. Nikolakakis holds a college degree in Illustration and Design rom DawsonCollege in Montreal, Canada where he currently resides.

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