Y’all remember The Dress? That photo parted the internet into the white-gold and blue-black factions, paving the way for succeeding optical illusion trends to go viral and continue confusing the internet.
And it looks like we may have our own “The Dress.” On Aug. 4, Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III visited Navotas City to inspect COVID-19 facilities amid the pre-lockdown surge in the city’s active case tally.
The photos from that day’s inspections were uploaded on DOH’s official Facebook page, and netizens have been having a field day with one particular photo.
This photo of Sec. Duque distributing goods―pretty typical scenario for government officials to be seen in public documenting relief operations―caught the attention of netizens who pointed out something interesting about the image.
Duque’s hand seems to be on top of another person’s hand, his fingers curled in as he hands the box to the other person. I don’t know about you, but this seems like an inconvenient way to hold a box.
I’m not an expert in the field of photo manipulation, final art, whatever you call it. But I asked our designers, the creative brains behind our visuals BTW, to analyze the photo in question and shed some Photoshop wisdom.
“The edge of his vest seems blurry so it looks edited. There’s a person holding a camera behind Duque and we can see them through the face shield. Shouldn’t that person be more visible? Unless cover na cover lang siya ni Sec. Duque sa pic. ‘Yung hand ni Sec. Duque makes it look edited the most kasi parang pinatong lang talaga,” Jan Cardasto, Junior Designer
“For me, the photo is a bit tricky. Since photos uploaded on Facebook typically suffer in quality, it’s a little difficult to check if a photo is manipulated, more so if it’s done well. The only thing that stands out for me, which made me believe that the photo was manipulated, was Duque’s right hand. His hand lacks shadow so it sticks out like a sore thumb,” Yel Sayo, Junior Designer
“For me it’s Photoshopped because the edges around Duque seem off compared to the other people in the photo. Second, his hand receiving the package seems like it was just pasted. Third, the lighting seems way off or maybe his complexion is just that fair, but sobrang off lang ng lighting colors,” Mikey Yabut, Junior Multimedia Artist
Read more:
Rapper Ruby Ibarra’s WIP: A COVID-19 vaccine (and a new album)
Vico Sotto thanks frontliners, like all public servants should
Sec. Duque and the flattened―no, bent―curve: A thrilling saga
Photo from the DOH Facebook page