Nikon photography competition: Winning entry turns out to be badly doctored image
The photographer who submitted the fake photo has since apologised
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Your support makes all the difference.Organisers of a photography competition have apologised after it was discovered the winning entry was a fake.
Nikon Singapore announced Chay Yu Wei's image of an aircraft flying directly above a set of ladders had won the contest.
But as dozens of enthusiasts pointed out, a relatively brief analysis of the image revealed it must have been doctored.
Nikon Singapore had written on its Facebook page: “Yu Wei chanced upon a set of ladders while on a photowalk with his friends in Chinatown, and thought the view above would make an interesting perspective. Little did he expect to catch an airplane in mid-air.”
Yu Wei had uploaded the image to Instagram, claiming he was very “lucky” to have been there when the plane flew past.
But commenters quickly pointed out how pixelated the plane was and, by adjusting the levels on the image, showed it must have been pasted on to the original photograph.
The photo rapidly became a meme, with dozens of social media creating their own version of the shot.
Chay Yu Wei later posted on Instagram to apologise, saying: “I was on a photowalk in Chinatown and I chanced upon that set of ladders. I snapped a picture of it, and subsequently felt that a plane at that spot would make for an interesting point of view. Hence, I inserted the plane with PicsArt and uploaded it to Instagram.
“I would have done it with Photoshop if I really meant to lie about it, but no, it was a playfell edit using the PicsArt app and uploaded to Instagram.
“However, I made a mistake by not keeping it to Instagram as a casual social media platform. I crossed the line by submitting the photo for a competition. I meant it as a joke and I’m really sorry to Nikon for disrespecting the competition.”
It is unclear whether he ever received his prize.
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