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This photo of “crowded” California beach is not what it seems

by 24 Comments

We have already seen that the change of perspective and focal length can drastically change the story. And after the latest controversy over a “crowded” beach in California, we can see exactly how it works in the context of reporting.

After a photo of the beach was published, people started a heated debate over it, claiming that it was “fake.” And in a way, they were right. The photo wasn’t doctored, but it was taken with a telephoto lens, making the beach look overcrowded. Filmed from a helicopter, the situation turned out to be much different.

 

It all started when The Orange County Register published an article about people hitting the beaches after the closure was lifted. The accompanying photo makes it seem as if the beachgoers were breathing up each other’s necks.

It didn’t take long for the photo to go viral. Some people accused the OCR of using a stock photo, some believed that it was from the archives, and some claimed that it was doctored. To address these accusations, the OCR responded with an article titled OC beach photo: Real news sometimes stranger than #fakenews.

In the article, they explained that the photo was taken by Mindy Schauer, who has worked at the OCR for over 20 years. They write that she took the photo from the Newport Beach pier with a telephoto lens “because she wanted to get as much of the beach as she could to accurately depict the scene.” They even shared the photo along with the EXIF data, which shows two things. First, the photo wasn’t from the archives but it was indeed shot on 26 April this year. And second, it was taken with a telephoto lens at 380mm focal length. As all photographers know, it creates quite a lot of lens compression.

screenshot KTLA 5

screenshot KTLA 5

In the video above, you can watch as Los Angeles news station KTLA 5 discusses the controversial photo. It’s great that they filmed the same beach on the same day from a helicopter. In their video, you can see that the beach wasn’t nearly as crowded as it appeared in Schauer’s image.

screenshot KTLA 5

As we mentioned before, the perspective and focal length can change the entire context. If you’re a photojournalist, you absolutely need to take it into consideration. If you don’t, you might create confusion, and not to mention that you may be accused of spreading fake news. And if you’re a reader – don’t forget to always keep your critical thinking.

[via PetaPixel]

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  • AgNO3

    What? photos can lie? No.

    • Fack-uuuu

      Are you serious? They say it’s the same beach at the same time?! No way! Count the umbrellas in both pics and you DONT get the same count!

      • m00npenny

        The beach is miles-long. The helicopter shot is maybe 75 feet worth.

  • Braaainz

    Best way to combat fake news is to find the OCR for such a deceptive story. At least they owned up

  • Brandon g

    Same beach, same day. What the author of this Article fails to mention, different times. Beach crowds will vary, during the different times of the day.

    • m00npenny

      But no one is at work, its a coin toss as to when people will show up.

    • wildflower49

      Yes, they specifically mentioned the two hour difference in the news video.

  • caljac

    If you start with a bias for a story, you will always find “facts” or pictures to support your narrative. As with everything in life, truth is a matter of perspective, or which lens you choose to use when looking at an event.

    This story is analogous to how the main steam media seems to “frame” stories about President Trump. Always looking for the worst possible light to capture the moment, but one that serves their purpose to sell advertising space.

    • Jim

      Lol

      • Don Macleay

        I was with you until you used Trump as an example. What would this excuse for a man do without press bias to hide behind?
        If anything, the press goes light on him, especially when he says things that are not tried, which is often.

  • Joel Dubey

    What a well written article. Factual with no apparent hidden agenda and respectful even though you didnt have to be.

  • masher

    In the old days this picture would be called propaganda. Just saying.

    • RyanB

      You mean this article? It’s a real photo regardless of the focal length. It shows what is really there. If you looked at a macro of an ant or flower would you think they are portraying a giant human sized ant or flower? However you see this, the people were clearly disregarding social distancing, even an ultra wide angle Len would show that.

      • TheKingJAK

        Clearly disregarding it? No, especially not when outside with constantly moving airflow. They pulled the same nonsense in Florida with zoomed in photos, and with the level of zoom they used for some of these stories they could’ve made the Moon appear to be swallowing up an entire skyline.

  • Ahmad J Ali

    We will see three weeks from now when the ventilators are needed or not. Keep opening up the US. Herd immunity is what is needed.

    • Arthur_P_Dent

      Then do your part and go to a local hospital and deliberately get infected.

  • UzUrBrain

    Obviously people commenting have never looked at a beach through the normal lens then a high power telephoto lens.

  • schinud omsub

    Trite to nuance journalism from propagandist. It is the readers’ emotional demand for wickedness.

  • Angel Santiago Saltamontes

    The Party knows this WELL, & their servants in media prepare to order. Don’t say i said anything political here, Snowflake, i didn’t NAME anybody; if YOU thought what YOU thought THAT says rather a lot; one might say it leaked. Yeah, the camera always tells the truth, but its product is used to lie. Which brings us back to The Party again, and their servants again. Funny how that is.

  • Mr.. Mayhem

    This Country will never get better if nobody follows restrictions. The restrictions are for a reason idiot’s. There are so many stupid human beings on this planet it unbelievable

  • cinda

    For those of you commit agenst this aticle if you have a camera experiment. See if what they say here is true or not for yourself.

  • TANLAAGOURA

    What a bunch of fucks. If they knew the images were deceptive, don’t publish it

  • TANLAAGOURA

    This is why people say the media spreads rumors and scares people

  • Debbie

    No. The lens doesn’t cause compression. The distance to the subject causes compression. If Mindy says there were thousands of people at the beach, there were thousands of people at the beach. In fact, I saw a video where lifeguards said that 40,000 people went to Newport Beach that weekend. We had a heatwave. People went to the beach and some were not social distancing. Yes, they were being foolhardy.

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