Participant

Question

Can an application detect photos that's been photoshop even though the image is flatten?

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
September 5, 2021
5 replies
26981 views

I recently accepted a job where I need to take pictures that is strict on no editing. I had this one case where the picture is a little blurry and I had to insert a signature through editing. Is there away to detect wether the photo has been edited?

This topic has been closed for replies.

PECourtejoie

Community Expert

Hello, do you really think you should try to do something illegal in your job, then do additional steps to hide the fact that you did it?

Some structures that do not allow editing, permit it under the condition that it would be clearly disclosed, in metadata, in the image caption, and sometimes by an overlay clearly stating that the image has been edited...

There are entire industries dedicated to image forensics...

Stephen Marsh

Community Expert

If it comes down to it, digital imaging forensic software/trained people will surely catch you out.

Even if you strip out metadata, it will likely be re-ordered or otherwise changed from the original, at least leading to a suspicion that something may have been changed.

If you save into JPEG, each program leaves an often unique "fingerprint" in the DCT which can be detected, so for those that know how to look, a JPEG saved directly from a camera is different to other cameras or software.

jane-e

Community Expert

@defaulto98d4wu9relu wrote:

I recently accepted a job where I need to take pictures that is strict on no editing.

If your job says don't edit, then don't edit. This is something that makes the newspapers when photographers get caught and then fired from their jobs.

~ Jane

D Fosse

Community Expert

If your job says don't edit, then don't edit.

By @jane-e

Yes, that's what it boils down to. End of discussion.

If you made an honest technical mistake when shooting, just say so. That always goes down much better than trying to cover up and then getting caught.

davescm

Community Expert

It is hard to believe that this question is being asked ! Someone is employed on a strict no editing basis and comes on an open forum asking about covering up an edit!

The bottom line is that altered metadata sets the amber light flashing at which point a forensic look at the image data is going to find the tell tales of an edit.

After that, depending on the purpose of the image, both you and your employer could be in deep hot water.

Don't start your employment like this.

Dave

D Fosse

Community Expert

If it's skillfully done there's no way to detect it in the pixel data.

However, it will leave a trace in metadata. If that company policy is on forensic level, don't do it. Even if you edit metadata, chances are you won't exactly replicate the "virgin state" of the file.

D

defaulto98d4wu9reluAuthor

Participant

Is there a way to erase the metadata entirely? Does snipping the photo erase the metadata?

J

jazz-y

Legend

I used 2000 x 2992 x 300 photograph (.jpg). I cropped it to 1 x 1 x 1 and saved as Before.jpg. Then I created new document of same dimension and resolution and dragged the first one on to save the second as After.jpg.

I don't see any data by Bridge unless there is some other block of hidden code that keeps the same metadata, but not for user display.

some of the metadata associated with the camera really disappeared, but photoshop still added its garbage

---- IFD0 ----
Orientation                     : Horizontal (normal)
X Resolution                    : 1
Y Resolution                    : 1
Resolution Unit                 : inches
Software                        : Adobe Photoshop 22.5 (Windows)
Modify Date                     : 2021:09:05 17:43:44
---- Photoshop ----
Slices Group Name               : Untitled-2
Num Slices                      : 1
Pixel Aspect Ratio              : 1
ICC Untagged                    : 1
IDs Base Value                  : 3
Photoshop Thumbnail             : (Binary data 535 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Has Real Merged Data            : Yes
Writer Name                     : Adobe Photoshop
Reader Name                     : Adobe Photoshop 2021
Photoshop Quality               : 12
Photoshop Format                : Standard
Progressive Scans               : 3 Scans
---- XMP-x ----
XMP Toolkit                     : Adobe XMP Core 7.0-c000 79.1357c9e, 2021/07/14-00:39:56
---- XMP-xmp ----
Creator Tool                    : Adobe Photoshop 22.5 (Windows)
Create Date                     : 2021:09:05 17:43:44+02:00
Metadata Date                   : 2021:09:05 17:43:44+02:00
Modify Date                     : 2021:09:05 17:43:44+02:00
---- XMP-photoshop ----
Color Mode                      : RGB
Document Ancestors              : adobe:docid:photoshop:64280e24-583b-5d43-96e5-91cfc417c3c0
---- XMP-dc ----
Format                          : image/jpeg
---- XMP-xmpMM ----
Instance ID                     : xmp.iid:1dba674f-1f6c-134a-8af8-345dc1c5a451
Document ID                     : xmp.did:1dba674f-1f6c-134a-8af8-345dc1c5a451
Original Document ID            : xmp.did:1dba674f-1f6c-134a-8af8-345dc1c5a451
History Action                  : created
History Instance ID             : xmp.iid:1dba674f-1f6c-134a-8af8-345dc1c5a451
History When                    : 2021:09:05 17:43:44+02:00
History Software Agent          : Adobe Photoshop 22.5 (Windows)

I don't think that if someone checks the author's files, he will limit himself only to the bridge;)

After.txt

Before.txt