They actually thought this was okay to print, part deux

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Hey, get a load of this photograph.

Pay particular attention to the poor lady in the green shirt and white jacket in the front row who appears to have arms growing out of her ears, and the hands at the end of those arms are holding a United Way sign.

I bring this to your attention because this photo ran in the local biweekly newspaper today. It was a submitted photo, which is a double WTF, because the person taking it didn't notice the hidden arms with the sign and sent it off to the paper, which ran it without questioning it. These are the same alleged professional journalists who brought you Mr. Basketball Head.

And people ask me why I never tried to use my college major to get a job with this newspaper. It would've been my first and last newspaper job. Our newspapers are such a sick, sad joke I'd probably never be able to get hired on anyplace else down the line.

[emax4]

Maybe the sign-holder didn't sign the permission slip to have her photo published, but the arms and hands didn't object and wanted the free publicity.

[Mr Hero]

My issue with this is couldn't they have just edited in the United Way sign without having anyone to hold it?

[PepperElf]

i'm assuming they had permission to use the United Way logo?
my first thought was that maybe it was a copyright issue which was why they took a photo of the logo vs actually printing the logo?

[Geek King]

I'm going with, "Someone thought this was a good idea." I've been in similar photos to this from my scouting days. They want to show the people involved in the story, and the organization logo, so someone gets "volunteered" to hide behind everyone and hold up the organization signage. Since no one involved is exactly Weta* material, you get the "floating arm" effect.

*special effect studio for the LOTR movies

[sms001]

HA!

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!"

I am SO not clicking through on any links in YOUR posts Irv. Not until my retinas recover from the last one at least. (Although "Mr. Basketball Head" is very tempting...)

[cindybubbles]

Those photos are pretty funny, though! We should have a "Funny Photo" contest and enter them.

[Kogarashi]

HA!

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!"

I am SO not clicking through on any links in YOUR posts Irv. Not until my retinas recover from the last one at least. (Although "Mr. Basketball Head" is very tempting...)

I clicked through. They're safe.

And Mr. Basketball Head is hilarious.

[bankworking]

I spent two minutes staring at the top picture under "Mr Basketball Head" trying to figure out the joke before I finally tried scrolling down to see the correct picture. Must be tired. :headshake:

[Pixilated]

My issue with this is couldn't they have just edited in the United Way sign without having anyone to hold it?

I don't know about over there, but over here that would be a HUGE no-no. Journalistic ethics are kinda fluid, but there are still some lines you can't cross. You can tinker with photos to make things more clear (i.e. if there are lighting issues), and you can crop photos to get rid of a lot of garbage around the edges ... but you CANNOT add things to photos. That can get you fired.

I thought Mr. Basketball Head was hilarious, but this just looks like a really poorly-set-up photo. If there are eight people in the photo (for example) there should be eight heads/faces visible. Having appendages or items growing out of people's bodies is generally a sign the photographer was (a) lazy and/or (b) had no clue what they were doing. Since this was a submitted photo, I'd be charitable and go with (b).

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/wp-...ke-a-sheet.jpg

It's not just photographers who are oblivious a lot of the time...

[retailsweetie]

They could've at least had the disembodied hands pose to look like they're meant to be holding a sign properly... the hand on the right (the left hand) is definitely "holding" the sign with the back of the hand.