Face of Fall

[Gary]

Hey guys, I found this submission to the Coast to Coast website.  Thought it was pretty neat.... and cute!

"I took a photo of my parents cat Jinx. I thought it was cute that he was sleeping on that bed of fresh fall leafs. When I got in the car after taking the photo, I showed my girlfriend, and she said "what the heck is that?" I hit the brakes of the car, and said "what are you talking about"?

She showed me the picture, and the face in leafs was the first thing I saw. I drove right back to my parent's house to try and investigate what I saw in this photo, and I couldn't find anything. I have no idea what that face is, who it resembles, or how it got into the photo. This picture was taken with a Droid cell phone."

[PPI Tracy]

Well, if you really look at the photo and examine some of the other leaves, they also appear to have a face or part of one.  I think it's obviously matrixing or the photo was doctored.  Either way, that kitty is just tooo darn cute!

[PPI Tim]

Cool.

[PPI Karl]

What genuinely fascinates me about pareidolia is how hardwired people are to recognize a face, and how forgiving we are of most incongruities so long as at least one or two of the main "facial" features seem right.  In this one, the "eyes" and "nose" look pretty good, but the "mouth" is facacta; also, the "ear" looks like its been detached.   Still, no matter how much even I try, I can't make it look like anything else but a face.  In fact, I spent a lot of time extrapolating on the face this morning, and this is what I think it really is:

[PPI Debra]

I agree with Tracy: the cat is too cute.

[ljiljanac]

lol  nice Karl

yah the kitty is cute and the face on the leaf is familiar.  you sure it's a leaf?

[PPI Tracy]

lol  nice Karl

yah the kitty is cute and the face on the leaf is familiar.  you sure it's a leaf?

Looks more like one of those garden rocks with the weird faces painted on them.  

But that kitty is just too darn cute.  (yeah...i said it again)

[PPI Brian]

In my opinion this is an altered image. The file is missing its Exif data, which in and of itself is suspicious. All digital cameras, including camera phones, record some form of Exif data on the images. This data is often deleted when an image is altered.  

The embossed copy of the image shows a clearly defined human face that appears to have been cut and pasted into the image.

[Damian]

My gut tells me it's been altered, but I couldn't prove it if I needed to.

I'm curious about the use of an embossed copy of the image.  Can anyone explain how and why this technique can be used to determine if a photo has been altered?  I can't seem to figure it out on my own, and I don't feel like I know enough about photography and photo construction.

[PPI Karl]

My gut tells me it's been altered, but I couldn't prove it if I needed to.

I'm curious about the use of an embossed copy of the image.  Can anyone explain how and why this technique can be used to determine if a photo has been altered?  I can't seem to figure it out on my own, and I don't feel like I know enough about photography and photo construction.

Actually, Damian, I had a similar feeling about the picture, so, like Brian, I dragged the image into my graphics app and did some embossing as well.  Embossing does two things:  first, it translates the colors into shades of grey, black, and white, which helps sometimes to isolate details that are otherwise lost in the confusion of color; second, it exaggerations the depth of objects by stretching the margins around them, so that if there is something there in three dimensions, it should stand out from the surroundings.  What supports Brian's interpretation of this embossed image is the fact that all the features of the "face" appear to in the same two-dimensional plane.  If the face were a composite of leaves, the edges of the leaves would stand out and we would see darker lines demarcating the constituent parts of the face's composition.  

It is still possible these are just leaves coincidentally arranged, though.  However, I am also suspecting that the image is fraudulent, I tried to un-skew it and restore it to a normal looking profile, and I'm virtually convince that it's John Malkovich.  (No, I'm being serious.  Check out the pronounced hairline on the right and the proportions of the nose!):

[PPI Karl]

My gut tells me it's been altered, but I couldn't prove it if I needed to.

I'm curious about the use of an embossed copy of the image.  Can anyone explain how and why this technique can be used to determine if a photo has been altered?  I can't seem to figure it out on my own, and I don't feel like I know enough about photography and photo construction.

Actually, Damian, I had a similar feeling about the picture, so, like Brian, I dragged the image into my graphics app and did some embossing as well.  Embossing does two things:  first, it translates the colors into shades of grey, black, and white, which helps sometimes to isolate details that are otherwise lost in the confusion of color; second, it exaggerations the depth of objects by stretching the lines around them, so that if there is something there in three dimensions, it should stand out from the surroundings.  What supports Brian's interpretation of this embossed image is the fact that all the features of the "face" appear appear to in the same two-dimensional plane.  If the face were a composite of leaves, the edges of the leaves would stand out and we would see darker lines demarcating the constituent parts of the face's composition. 

It is still possible these are just leaves coincidentally arranged, though.  However, I in suspecting that the image is fraudulent, I tried to unskew it and restore it to a normal looking profile, and I'm virtually convince that it's John Malkovich.  (No, I'm being serious.  Check out the pronounced hairline on the right and the proportions of the nose!)  Apparently, apparitions of Jesus in rusty water tanks is out of fashion; now it's more cool "being John Malkovich":

[Damian]

Thanks for the explanation Karl.  I can feel that the rusty gears of understanding have moved a bit.

When I look at the blow up of the face in the leaves, to me it looks like Frank the rabbit from the movie Donnie Darko (attached).  Just cover up the ears...

[PPI Tracy]

PPI = Lightening in a bottle

I am surrounded by brilliance.

[PPI Debra]

SO... this is some kind of Rorschach test?

[Damian]

Yup, I think so.  And I don't even want to know what seeing Frank the rabbit might mean.   

[PPI Debra]

Yup, I think so.  And I don't even want to know what seeing Frank the rabbit might mean.   

It means that you are a wild thing at heart!

[Damian]

Rawr!