Aaah, the good old days. When an "out for coffee" photo op was "out for coffee" and a photo op. When it would appear that Jared Eng actually wrote his posts in the first person. When a date stamp was (for the most part) a date stamp. When a picture was a picture. Let's look at a couple just for sentiment's sake. ;-)
Here's an oldie - Jake out with his family in the infamous chocolate Easter Bunny photo. We now know this was around the time of the end of the first trimester of Baby Tile #1 and even though the foreboding mention of beard Reese Witherspoon was included, the photo was timely and there were not any unexplained missing limbs, glowing objects or fuzziness. Crystal clear! Imagine that. Notice this was also back when Jared Eng used to offer a clock time on his posts.
Again, a date and time stamp, crystal clear photos, bystanders actually observing the celebrity, and no Colorforms™ effects.
Whereas nowadays, we see plates of food with name tags which are supposed to be proof the parties were actually there,
Telescope-required photos which seem to have been taken from a space shuttle. Not only do the human subjects look like Lilliputians, but it also uses the too-frequently-utilized "back of the head" shot.
and a classic:
Huh? Who in the heck is that supposed to be?
Fuzzy Wuzzy,
That was one of the worst photo shops ever, folks. Embarrassingly so.
Colorforms™ effect - here's Harry Styles who almost looks to be plastered against the wall and smashed behind Mr. Big Guy:
Missing, blurred, smashed, or in this case with Fergie, "clawed" appendages. Look at her right hand when you enlarge the picture:
The infamous beard Alyssa Miller's empty sleeve:
And then there's the use of railings and balconies.
Yes, come gather 'round. In another case of blame a PR team for going to a particular well too often, often enough to cause Narnia authors to notice and take a trip to Google. Austin Nichols' social media interns took on this tactic too frequently, the use of balonies, railings and other overlooks.
Well, this was an interesting find, via Kaela Werner, who wrote up a short article called "Balcony Mock-Ups", showing when she was trying to help a home-seller envision what their office would look like if it was replaced by a balcony:
The before picture:
And then her after photo:
Well, look at that. Kind of interesting, isn't it? And it looks pretty darn real as well. One photo superimposed on top of another.
How about video?
While it's one thing to have a general idea about "technology these days" and ""tricks of the trade", it's a whole other ball of wax to actually see these tricks or read about them.
Huh. Well, that too is food for thought, isn't it? Thanks to the authoring site eapl.org for being one of many sites offering help-to's on video enhancements, no doubt spurring on Hollywood pr teams to hire the video/photo savvy to take these tips and run with them.
Face morphing in videos? This is kind of scary:
The video, which appeared on the online forum Reddit, was what’s known as a “deepfake” — an ultrarealistic fake video made with artificial intelligence software. It was created using a program called FakeApp, which superimposed Mrs. Obama’s face onto the body of a pornographic film actress. The hybrid was uncanny — if you didn’t know better, you might have thought it was really her. - "Here Come the Fake Videos" on The NY Times.
Whether photo or video, we at Narnia have seen enough of the unexplained, questionable, something-not-quite-right from a few of our OTP's.
Amazing how the hair covers nearly all of Genevieve's face in the photo above, isn't it? And what's she standing on that makes her so much taller than Jared?
Another hinky involving the Padalecki crew with the ice rink wall providing the easy back drop and a ballcap superimposed on top of a child's head. Notice the way the cap seems to be almost standing in a vertical position.
Was this a case of Austin really being seated at the table with someone else sitting behind him or is this his and Chlo's heads/upper bodies superimposed onto other bodies? The huge clue is Chlo's feet, whose epidermis does not quite match that of her upper half. ;-)
The vending machine outline below provides the necessary cover of the beard's real absence in the photo. Could've been an arm borrowed from a random picture. I always liken this photo to the Cosmo Kramer and Elaine Benes mannequin scene in Seinfeld, lol.
Narnia has already pointed out how to watch for beards or OTP halves to be inserted into corners or "from the side" of photos. This makes it easier than having to coordinate/match up feet onto the ground or clasping hands. Here's Austin "popping in" from the side. The other clue where they messed up? Notice two other couples doing the lap thing. If Austin had really been there, Chlo would've been on his lap next to the other two for continuity.
and this mish-smash of Jensen and beard Danneel:
The Colorforms™ outline of the girl on Jake's left:
The lighting difference in Jake's face versus the lighting on the other three parties plus Jake on the outer edge:
Look what happened when a Larrie pointed out what she saw as a photoshopped picture - her account was deactivated:
I'm not trying to be a dark larrie or something BUT, this account @/larrybuzzin was deactivated after this theory, and it's really suspicious, I mean, there's a lot of theories in Twitter, why they decided to deactivate her account? pic.twitter.com/IzUZja9PKX— steph (@louehsuun) June 26, 2018
Political figures are not exempt either. Get a load of this one:
A photoshopped picture depicting Trump rescuing people during Hurricane Florence has been shared 275,000 times on Facebook. The original is from Texas flooding in 2015. pic.twitter.com/woWuPuqSSy— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) September 24, 2018
So yes, there is hinkiness all around. Not every photo is hinky. But Instagram and even Twitter (when PR is able to utilize a phony account) are allowing these social media teams to have control of the pictures. The accompanying caption, the "location", and planted comments all lead horses to the trough and try to force what
Pictures like this one with a floating cell phone barely (if at all) in Jared's finger grasp,
and this one where Jake's head is photoshopped onto another body:
show us that PR and social media teams will attempt to fool us, the viewers:
And does this seat belt provide the perfect separator between two pictures? Watch for beams, pillars, poles, and now apparently seat belts in photos. These help interns to avoid having to align and "match up" two photos and make it easier for a photoshop. This is a pic of Austin with his deard, aka his beard's dog.
And what is the common denominator which might prompt this intentional deception? Most of our photos/videos have involved gay, but closeted celebrity men who are suspected to be in long-term relationships. We know that one of these couples, if not two of them (i.e., Louis and Harry) are in a legally binding marriage, while Jared and Jensen's commitment status is still unknown even though they have been together since 2005. Ever since the Hiatus from Hell began in January 2016, Louis and Harry cannot be seen together. And apparently, neither can Jake and Austin. In fact, when it comes to Jake and Austin & Jared and Jensen, both couples are deep in the closet and (in Narnia's belief) raising large families away from the public eye.
This means there are whereabouts and travel itineraries to be deceived in order to hide their actual logistical togetherness. With fandoms or blogs which follow them (to the point of studying in a claustrophobic fashion ha ha), that means detours and orange cones. And with photo and video technology where it is, that means we the viewers need to be smarter and less trusting of what we are seeing.
Challenge. Question. Leave ends open and be open-minded. It's not a bad thing to not believe a picture of an OTP half which places him halfway across the world, away from the other half (particularly during a holiday, birthday, anniversary, etc). You're not doubting the validity of your OTP. You're seeing a reason FOR their validity.
If there is any kind of silver lining, this would be it - that they are indeed together.
Jared and Jensen:
Austin and Jake:
Louis and Harry:
pic sources: el Diaro Vasco, kaela werner, eapl.org, Just Jared,
Daily Fail
our playlist: I Can See Clearly Now - Ray Charles
Into the Groove - Madonna
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