[Leica] The Joys of (Bad) Digital Photography

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

I was just looking at Parade magazine, which comes with my Sunday 
paper.  On the next to last page, there is a celebrity profile: "In Step 
With Debi Mazar."  The accompanying photo is so unbelievably bad that I 
can't believe it made it into a national publication.  Especially since 
this was a feature, not a spot-news rush job.

When I first saw it, I thought, "this looks strange."  The I realized that 
it was because Ms. Mazar's pupils looked vertical and cat-like. Then I took 
a closer look and realized that both her pupils, and the catchlights in her 
eyes were *rectangular.*  As in, the shape of a pixel. Aaaaaaaagh!

Somebody needs to "send in their clones" tool, or take a knife to their 
sharpening algorithm.  This photo is almost in the same league as the 
portrait of a haggard Tony Blair that appeared in a major publication a 
while back, complete with doughnut-shaped catchlights in the P.M.'s eyes 
from a ring flash.

Somebody is either unbelievably incompetent, thinks that the public is so 
stupid they won't notice, or is deliberately trying to make the subjects 
look bad.  Or management has cut the staff or tightened deadlines to the 
point where nobody has time to do a little basic quality control.

--Peter