Photos from Iranian Missile Launch Altered

Newspapers and other news organizations across the world have were duped yesterday by an image provided by the Web site of Sepah News, the PR organization for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.  The image of a missile launch test that Sepah provided was photoshopped to show four rockets in the air, not the three that were actually launched.  Many major media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Chicago Tribute placed the false image on their front pages.

Below are the two images.  The original is on the top, the doctored photo below it.  It is obvious by the shading of the sky around the middle missile that image alteration had occured.  Another tip-off is the direct copy-paste of that bump on the ground, and the general fuzziness of portions of the desert floor.  The photo editors at the media outlets that took this photo as true really screwed this up.  A simple glance at the image shows that it has been changed.

The image below shows where the obvious signs of tampering are: