When you see photos of perfect girls in newspapers, magazines and on websites and especially in advertisements, with very smooth skin, white teeth, sparkling eyes and rounded features like those of a statue of Michelangelo, one wonders if that photo is it real or if it has been retouched with programs like Photoshop . Those interested can now find out, with a good success rate, if the photo has been modified and improved by the computer or if it is real beauty.
In more sensational cases then there are photomontages that tend to distort reality by artificially reconstructing situations that have never occurred.
Well-made photo retouches are impossible to detect with the naked eye and it takes a tool that analyzes the image thoroughly and is able to determine any changes on it.
The FotoForensics site offers a free service that uses the error level analysis algorithm (ELA) to determine if an image is real or if it comes from retouching with the computer .
FotoForensics allows you to upload a photo from your computer and, as a result, analyze the image to find out if the shot was retouched later or not.
The web application supports the png and jpg image formats and also allows you to analyze photographs by providing the link of the internet page where they are located.
After uploading the photo, press on Upload Picture and wait for the analysis that can be studied according to the instructions provided.
Interpreting the results is the most difficult part.
As written in the tutorial, JPEG images use a lossy compression system.
Each recode (resave) of the image decreases the image quality.
If the image is completely real and has never been changed, the error level is identical for each photo pixel.
If an image is modified, then each retouched area should have a higher error potential than the rest of the image and the analyzer highlights it.
Furthermore, if the edges of the photos contain many red and blue points in the analysis, they may have been saved with Photoshop, and perhaps even retouched.
To have reliable results, you must use the original photo which could be found on the internet with the TinyEye site, one of the sites to find similar photos and similar images.
Another site that can detect if a photo has been retouched with Photoshop is Izitru.com .
Operation is simple, just click on the image upload button and select the image you want to check.
Once the upload is complete the site will begin evaluating the photo and will show the results to indicate whether the photo is true or false.
Also in this case the detection is reliable if it is an original photo and not re-saved on the PC and then uploaded to a website.
In another article, 10 online tools to improve photos to create retouched images
