BARACK OBAMA: LONG FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE

Merely viewing the Long Form birth certificate in Acrobat reader—

without any special software—is enough to reveal a myriad of

image tampering evidence. What do you look for?

Figure 1 is an example of a scanned image viewed in Photoshop.

Notice that the Layers palette displays one layer which defaults

to the name Background. A one layered file is also referred to as a

flattened image (more on layers later).

inconsistencies in noise or grain would be a strong telltale sign of

tampering. Obama’s long form certificate document shows a clear

inconsistency of noise in various locations. Let’s examine a scanned

image to get an understanding of what is meant by the term

noise—which is more easily seen at high zoom levels. Figure 1

shows the sample zoom areas of focus—to get a closer look.

Figure 1: Photo Image at 100% Zoom Level

So what is noise? At the normal zoom level (100%) shown in

Figure 1, there seems to be the normal transitions of color tones

and shadows. For example, “Sample area one” appears to have a

solid black area of hair near the face. Conversely, “Sample area two”

(also shown in Figure 1) appears to have a solid white or off-white

area.

However, when you zoom in closer as seen in Figure 2 (for area

one) and peek ahead to Figure 3 (for area two), you can easily

view consistent noise which is apparent in the slight variations of

color from neighboring pixels. This is the natural noise level for

this image, and it is consistent throughout the image. If necessary,

zoom in for a closer look at Figure 2, and you can clearly see the

consistent noise in the black tones as well.

Also notice the transition of pixel colors that occur when colors of

contrast bump up next to each other—such as the edge of the face

against the dark hair color. This is referred to as antialiasing which

offers a smooth line of transition and gives the appearance of a

smooth line (to the eye) when viewed at the normal zoom level of

100% (in Figure 1). Without antialiasing, the edges appear jagged

or bitmapped.

Figure 2: Sample area zoom and noise becomes apparent

Before applying this concept to Obama’s PDF certificate file,

I would like to make another point using the same example

image. Figure 3 shows a pixel that is sampled to match one of

the off-white colors within the image: Using a paint brush tool (in

Photoshop), a streak of the sample color was drawn across the

image area.

Notice that a component added digitally to an

for the sample paint stroke in Figure 3 is solid in

color with no variation—not even the slightest of

variations.

In order to avoid detection when editing

an image, an experienced professional will

attempt to mimic the noise to match the

document. There are many methods, but

the most common method would be to add Noise

to the painted area via the Filter menu provided in

Photoshop (shown in the menu figure to the left).

Figure 3: Solid digital paint stroke added to image

The previous sections discussed noise and antialiasing in reference

to a scanned photo, but what about scanned text? Figure 4 shows

a sample section of scanned text. The Figure 4 insert shows the

sample text at normal zoom level—The Anniversary Series—looks

like ordinary black text. The majority of Figure 4 zooms into a

couple of text characters for a closer look at 1400% zoom level.

Clearly a similar consistency in noise and antialiasing can be seen

at the higher zoom level. Additionally, notice a pattern in the

antialiasing transitional colors: The bottom or left edges of the text

(as it transitions into the white background) are red-ish color values

in this example, similarly there are consistently blue-ish color

values around the top and right edges of transitions. This is typical,

quite normal and is referred to as chromatic aberration—caused

when different wavelengths of light are refracted differently as it

goes through a lens or prism during the scanning process.

Now let’s examine some sample areas of Obama’s Long Form

Certificate in Acrobat. Again, no need for special image editing

software at this point, just an understanding of what to look for.

Let’s start by mentioning that there is no evidence of chromatic

aberration anywhere in the document—this is not normal and

neither is the white halo surrounding the text—both points

indicates image tampering (more on the halo later).