Reuters distributed the top image, showing smoke rising over Beirut after an Israeli air strike, on August 5, 2006. It had been taken by Lebanese photographer Adnan Hajj, who had been freelancing for Reuters for ten years.
The conservative "Little Green Footballs" website soon identified the photo as a fake, noting that, based on the unusual repetitive patterns in the smoke, it appeared Hajj must have used Photoshop's cloning tool to add additional smoke to the sky. When questioned by Reuters, Hajj admitted the photo was altered, but claimed he had simply tried to remove some dust marks from it. Reuters withdrew the image and replaced it with the original (middle).
Other altered photos by Hajj were subsequently found, including one of an Israeli F-16 (bottom) in which a flare has been replicated several times. Reuters informed Hajj that it would no longer use his photos, and it deleted all his images from its archive.
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