CCTV's Best Photograph of the Year is Fake?

Could it be that this photograph was the result of PhotoShop manipulation? The netizen nicknamed Dajiala was the person who made the post. He questioned the bronze-award winning photograph titled 'Wildlife opening the passage of life at the Qinghai-Tibet railway (青藏铁路为野生动物开辟生命通道)' from the 2006 CCTV news photos of the year.

According to Dajiala, he had liked that photograph before. On February 10, he passing by the Beijing Number 5 subway (北京地铁五号线)'s photograph exhibition and saw this familiar photograph once more. But this time, he found a suspicious point. "I suddenly saw a peculiar detail. At the bottom of the photograph, there was a very obvious line. I examined it very carefully and it was obviously the stitching of two different parts... if the train and the antelopes came from two different photographs, then this decisive moment was just a simple PhotoShop trick?" Afterwards, Dajiala took out his camera and recorded the details of the photograph. When he got home, he made a careful comparison with the photograph that he had saved on his computer. He concluded that the photograph was faked.

Dajiala's post caused a huge storm and drew many other netizens into an investigation of the veracity of the photograph. They studied the EXIF information (which are present on digital photographs) and they pored over every detail of the photograph. They came up with more problems. "The EXIF information indicated that the time when the photograph was taken was faked!" "The rock in two different photographs taken at different times at the same place was identical!" "The antelopes were definitely on the move and they cannot but be disrupted by the passing train!" The netizens used their amateur photography knowledge to cast doubts on this award-winning photograph. "From how the shutter speed could freeze the Tibetan antelopes, it is reasonable to assume 1/1000 seconds for 20D. But the date of the photograph was in September, and this is inconsistent with the habits of the Tibetan antelopes." As the doubts rose, netizens said that "Tiger Zhou" has not departed the scene but "Antelope Liu" has arrived.


The reporter took this photograph and consulted a veteran photographer working in journalism in Chengdu. "A news photograph must emphasize the factual nature of the subject. If the decisive movement was in fact faked, then the facts do not exist. It is illogical for this photograph to be entered into a news photography contest." As soon as this photographer took a look at this photograph, he shook his head and said: "According to the habit of the Tibetan antelopes, they will be scared by a passing train and they will scatter everywhere. They could not maintain a straight-line file so calmly." Then he produced a photograph of a train passing by some Tibetan antelopes, which scattered in fear." So anyone familiar with Tibetan antelopes would see that this photograph was illogical. But if ordinary netizens can spot this problem, why did the many judges for CCTV fail to spot it? Instead, they awarded a bronze award for photojournalism. This photographer thinks that CCTV should bear the primary responsibility for the mistake.

This photograph is very well-known and has been published in more than 200 media outlets around the world. The award-winning photographer is Liu Weiqiang, who is presently the assistant director of the photography department at Daqing Evening News. He is a senior member of the Chinese Photographers Association and a special contracted Xinhua photographer. Last Friday, this reporter made contact with Liu by mobile telephone. At the time, Liu was out of town on assignment.

"The antelopes in the photograph are real. The overpass bridge is also real. But it was not easy to capture such a moment." Liu Weiqiang admitted openly: The photograph was created by PhotoShop. Liu said that the photograph was taken in 2006 and served as the poster/postcard for the Kekexili nature preservation area. Later, the Kekexili nature preservation area let the China Environmental News publish it. This photograph was then discovered by CCTV which selected it as one of the most memorable news photographs of the year 2006. "I had never published this photograph as a news photograph. After receiving this award, I did not use it to enter the Holland world competition or the China news photography competition, because this was an artistic photograph that had been modified." As to why a PhotoShop-ed photograph could win a news photography award, Liu Weiqiang said, "Maybe it is because the award judges were not familiar with the habits of the Tibetan antelopes."

"Actually, I hoped that this incident would blow up because more people will pay attention to the Tibetan antelopes!" said Liu Weiqiang. As for netizens calling for his award to be rescinded, Liu said that he only has a piece of paper and a cup to show and therefore this does not mean much to him. "Presently, the focus of my attention is on the Tibetan antelopes!"

Source: Zonaeuropa

Update: According to Xinhua news agency, the photographer has apologized to the public for faking Tibetan antelope picture on a forum of xitek.com, a website for photographer, on Saturday.