Digital Image Manipulation - Content Aware Tool

Adobe's newest version of PhotoShop has a newly improved tool known as "Content Aware Tool'. Using this newly enhanced tool, PhotoShop users will be able to very easily remove blemishes and other unwanted digital artifacts from images, and render such removal virtually undetectable.

If [and when] such a feature gets placed into unscrupulous hands, I believe there will be more cause for concern when judging specimens that are offered for sale online.

Here are two links for those folks who would like to learn more about this feature:

Article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/12/photoshop.first.look.wired/index.html?hpt=Sbin
Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0aEp1oDOI&feature=player_embedded

I'd be interested in hearing other folk's thoughts about this after they've read the article and seen the demo.

- CheetahCats

 

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That's pretty impressive. I wonder if counterfeiters could benefit from that?

 

I see this as most dangerous to those who buy raw coin online.
The use of the SNAD return policy on eBay should rise sharply.

 

It may be easier to do now, but I've been using the past 3 versions of PS and it hasn't ever been difficult to do. Removing minor blemishes was already practically a one-click trick.

 

All the more reason why one should never buy raw coins on eBay unless you know the seller.

Chris

 

I once purchased a raw CBH off of ebay and when the coin arrived it had three rather severe gouges on the obverse surfaces that were completely invisible in the auction images. Obviously, someone digitally removed the imperfections to receive a higher bid price. The seller attempted to tell me that he would not accept the coin, but when I sent him my unaltered digital images of the coin he relented and refunded my total purchase price. This was perhaps five or six years ago.

 

I doubt this will have much of an added impact on the way things already are. As mentioned above it's already pretty simple to remove blemishes from coins using Photoshop. The Content Aware tool is more for advanced photographic manipulation

 

Just easier

I see nothing new to fear.

All this stuff can already be done. This just makes it easier.

 

Indeed, my point. It makes it easy even for the most novice user.

 

Yep, it's all been possible in the hands of the more experienced at retouching and image manipulation, but the more common and easy the tools get, the more the lay-person will have the opportunity to get one by on the honest guy or dupe the unaware. One can only hope that image analysis software that has been developed to detect manipulated images also gets into the hands of the public for ease in countering the fakes.

 

you must have been talking about me when you said novice user

Glad they can make it easier for someone (i.e. me) who doesnt want to spend a lot of time learning PS.

I think grading coins will become more important in selling coins now then before I could be wrong though and I hope I am because it may lead to higher prices on coins. Maybe this sounds a little far fitched but you never know what the future holds :goof::kewl:

-Shrek

 

I agree, this was the premise behind my latest contest. Here is what I did in 10 seconds with the photoshop spot healing brush tool.




While the contest only lasted 10 minutes, it wasn't because the alteration was detectable in the photo. With the new plus designation, one would only need to remove very small marks to make the coin look PQ in an attempt to drive a premium price for the coin.

 

I think that grading coins is indeed important. However, the more adept folks become at grading, indeed it will reduce the amount of specimens that can be cherry-picked.

There are a lot of publications out there that make it much easier to grade coins: Grading Coins by Photographs, Q. David Bowers, (c)2008, for instance. It's almost a 'wizard' for every FleaBay bandito out there.

Fortunately, for me, as I am more interested in the Colonials and Pre-Federals, there isn't much grading guidance out there (as of yet), and grading is still a bit like the 'wild west'.

 

And alterations such as those in Lehigh's contest can be that much harder to detect at low resolution or in small pixel sized images, like those one tends to find on many eBay type auctions.

 

Totally right! The less resolution, the less flaws and blemishes appear, and the more easier to crop them out, even with the earlier versions of PS.