Manipulated Photograph

The picture I chose is the one that depicts the bombings in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. I chose the image because it has been deliberately manipulated to depict two bomb sites instead of one. The photographer copied the original smoke stack, and pasted it again nearby to present the illusion of two bombs hitting the city in clase vicinity. The picture was published on the Reuters news agency website in August 2006. The picture was manipulated to emphasize the devastation that occured in Beirut and greater lebanon during the bombings of 2006. With such a large amount of smoke covering the majority of the upper half of the picture, it gives the viewer the impression that many bombs hit the city, rather than the one bomb that the original, undoctered picture represents. The doctored picture is harmful as it could act as false propoganda during the warfare. Although the Israeli's bombed lebanon extensively, the false picture shows that many bombs have hit the city, when really only one had hit when this photo was taken. This false image could cause a negative response from the lebanese authorites and greater populace, and increase the severity of the warfare that took place. It was lucky that Reuters realized that the photo was doctored and took it down from its website. The photo provides a lesson that photos should never be doctored, especially during warfare as it could cause dire consequences.