Colin Kaepernick's skin appears darkened in Republican campaign fundraiser ad

[Aldebaran]

View attachment 259342

Original image on left, altered image on right.

-CryptoLutheran

The guy who's face partially appears in the upper left corner has darker skin in the "altered" photo too. I wonder if he'll sue as well.

 

[Aldebaran]

It's clearly darkened from the original. Now, you tell me exactly how an image gets darkened accidentally. I'm having a difficult time coming up with a reason that isn't nefarious.

Copying the image from one source and pasting it into a document that may use a different format in order to fit the image into the document. Not much different than having a high quality video that you upload to a video sharing service only for that service to downgrade the quality to save space or format it for their service.

 

[Aldebaran]

You remove patches to remove copyrighted logos, like the NFL logo. You then darken the skin of the football player to make him more sinister. They started with the original digital photo and then went from there. If they started with a poor quality photo, then you would see that reflected in the photo, they did not start with a poor quality photo. They also did not start with a printed photo as printed photos and digital photos are created differently (i.e., it does not bear the CYM tricolor patterning of printed images).

Are you saying people with darker skin look "more sinister"? That's a rather racist statement, especially against black people who have the darkest skin.

 

[Gigimo]

Reminds me of how the PC police tried to portray George Zimmerman as lily white.

 

[Aldebaran]

Reminds me of how the PC police tried to portray George Zimmerman as lily white.

And Trayvon Martin as a little boy.

 

[Gigimo]

And Trayvon Martin as a little boy.

 

[ViaCrucis]

The guy who's face partially appears in the upper left corner has darker skin in the "altered" photo too. I wonder if he'll sue as well.

I think it's already been agreed that the entire image was darkened. So I don't understand the point you're making.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ViaCrucis]

Are you saying people with darker skin look "more sinister"? That's a rather racist statement, especially against black people who have the darkest skin.

Colorism.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Aldebaran]

Colorism.

-CryptoLutheran

Ah! He's being treated differently based on a photo (or is he?). Good thing that's never been done before. See post #66 for reason for my sarcasm.

 

[Aldebaran]

I think it's already been agreed that the entire image was darkened. So I don't understand the point you're making.

-CryptoLutheran

Equal treatment under the photo editor/format change/quality degradation.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Ah! He's being treated differently based on a photo (or is he?). Good thing that's never been done before. See post #66 for reason for my sarcasm.

I honestly don't know if you undestand the issue and are just trolling, or if you honestly aren't wrapping your head around this.

I brought up colorism because you referred to a post in which dark skin color was perceived as sinister. The reason why darkening an image of Kaepernick, and thus presenting his skin tone as darker than it actually is, is being seen as potentially problematic is because of the history of colorism as it pertains to people of color, especially black people, in this country. There is a history of the "dark skinned n*gro" as a racist trope, to depict darker skinned individuals as sinister.

Is that the purpose for having altered the image of Kaepernick? I don't know. But that is the question (and in some cases accusation) at hand.

It's not that being darker is bad, it's that trying to use dark skin to communicate "this person is bad" is what's wrong.

Is that clear enough? Or do you need more information?

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ViaCrucis]

Equal treatment under the photo editor/format change/quality degradation.

Ah, got it. You are trolling. My mistake for engaging your posts.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[iluvatar5150]

To get a bit technical - it's not "darkened". If it had been darkened, his shirt wouldn't still be white. It does look somewhat de-saturated or otherwise more muted, though.

 

[Tigger45]

God bless Trayvon as he rests in the Father’s arms and may our Father have mercy upon our souls.

 

[Sparagmos]

To get a bit technical - it's not "darkened". If it had been darkened, his shirt wouldn't still be white. It does look somewhat de-saturated or otherwise more muted, though.

I noticed the same thing. In Lightroom and photoshop you can target the tones you want to change. Darken the shadows or lighten the whites, etc.

 

[iluvatar5150]

I noticed the same thing. In Lightroom and photoshop you can target the tones you want to change. Darken the shadows or lighten the whites, etc.

It looks like a photograph of a printed image, though I doubt that’s what it is. If I had to guess, they desaturated it or put some kind of translucent overlay on it to make the text pop and to make the Trump pic pop.

 

[SarahsKnight]

I know some conservatives and veterans that have no problem with Kap’s nonviolent expression.

The intelligent ones who aren't ridiculously extreme about patriotism, then.

 

[Sketcher]

View attachment 259342

Original image on left, altered image on right.

-CryptoLutheran

Looking at the white spots in his beard and artifacting in his arm, it appears that the image on the right was scanned, and not fully cleaned up. Hence the source appears to have been a printed image. Printed images will be noticeably darker than their on-screen equivalents.

I can understand the concern, but I really don't think it was darkened to make him look blacker to scare racist people. However, I would not put out an ad supporting the party if it is attacking an American who is neither a criminal nor an opposing candidate.

 

[SummerMadness]

It was darkened, and the water carriers are trying their best to deny it. This is no different than the racist GOP flyers that had pictures of Obama with Kool-Aid, fried chicken and watermelon. Water carriers will always deny the most racist acts.

 

[Belk]

I cant make assumptions.

I didn't ask you to make any. I asked for alternate reasons.