Re: Can anyone debunk these big gator reports?

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Posted by Bill Moss on August 13, 2002 at 07:19:19:

In Reply to: Re: Can anyone debunk these big gator reports? posted by Mokele on August 13, 2002 at 03:37:32:

I also do alot of photo manipulation and, while I find your friends comments very observant, I don't agree with them.

:1) the light is shining on the wrong side of the gator.
The sky is hazy and the sun is high, resulting in a diffuse and short shadow. I couldn't find inconsistency.

:2) no built up mud or drag marks where you'd expect from hauling such a large animal.

Nor do I

:3) The man behind the gator should cast a shadow on it, but
doesn't

We don't know how far behind the gator the man is standing. As previously pointed out, this could give the gator the illusion of size (and old fishermans trick). Unless he is standing right on top of the gator there would be no shadow. Look at the shadow cast by the person in the safety vest.

:4) the man's legs look blurry where they meet the gator in the image
:5) there's a blur mark on the gator's back just left of the man's legs.
:6) supsicious repetition of the pattern of the mudbank near the gator's tail

4 5 and 6, the photo is of such low resolution that no matter where you look (I blew this up in photoshop and did some sharpening) there is blur and heavy pixelation.

:7) Shading under the gator is far darker than anything other shading in the pic

I don't agree here, either

:8) black tape looks suspiciously wide. like 5 inches plus.

If the gator is 15 feet long, the approx length of the head would be approx 22 inches. I think 2" tape would be appropriately scaled for an animal 15 feet long.

:and last but not least:

:9) human nature: you'd expect these people to be posing around the trussed gator they captured like a trophy, not seemingly ignoring it.

If this had been sitting around awhile, it would have lost it's interest from the standpoint of people standing around looking at it. There is a guy in the background with a camera who looks like he could be doing and interview.(?)

I personally don't think there is any question about this gator being on this job site. If I were going to change (via photo manipulation) the location of the gator, this is not the place I would put it.

Just my opinions.

Bill
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