Software That Exposes Faked Photos (The New York Times)

New software developed by Dartmouth’s Hany Farid and his colleagues can determine whether a photo is fake—or has been altered—by analyzing shadows that cannot be seen by the naked eye, reports The New York Times.

The software, says Farid, may be helpful in the field of photo forensics, which the Times points out is increasingly important in the age of Photoshop and other image-manipulation software.

The software is able to analyze an image in ways the naked eye cannot, notes the Times. “Perceptual studies show that the brain is largely insensitive to gross inconsistencies in shadows,” Farid, a professor of computer science, tells the newspaper. “That means that an analyst may not be very good at determining whether shadows are real or not. But more importantly, it means a forger may not notice when he or she places an incorrect shadow on an image.”

Read the full story, published 8/19/13 by The New York Times.