‘This was photoshopped, obviously’: Donald Trump blasts photographer for edited image showing him with an unflattering fake tan line – but still boasts ‘the hair looks good’
- Trump weighed in on a tweet mocking him from a ‘Dutch Dane World Citizen’
- Photo taken on Friday shows Trump with unsightly line of dark makeup
- Unflattering photos were taken by mysterious photographer William Moon
- Moon told DailyMail.com that he did adjust the photo with editing software
- He is not in the White House press pool or employed by White House
- Yet the photographer regularly snaps pictures at White House events
President Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to criticize a photo that was altered to show him with an unflattering tanner line around his face.
‘More Fake News. This was photoshopped, obviously, but the wind was strong and the hair looks good? Anything to demean!’ Trump tweeted on Saturday, responding to a man from Denmark who mocked the photo as showing him in ‘orangeface’.
The photo was taken on the White House South Lawn on Friday by mysterious photographer William Moon, and does appear to be edited significantly in comparison with other photos taken by the White House pool.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Moon admitted that he had altered the photo, saying: ‘The picture was never photoshopped, but used the Apple smartphone’s photo app to adjust the color of the picture.’
An unedited pool photo from the same moment on Friday shows Trump with a much less noticeable line around his face than the William Moon photo
Little is known about Moon, a mysterious figure who is a favorite among QAnon devotees, who scour his photos and videos for clues that tie into their pedophile-cabal conspiracy theory.
Moon is not employed by the White House, nor is he a member of the White House News Photographers Association.
However, Moon does appear to have at least limited credentials for access to the White House, and regularly posts original photos and video from open press events there.
Moon’s Twitter account bio reads: ‘White House Correspondent, Journalist, Photographer, Poet and Pesco Vegetarian.’
Other photos from the same event show a faint tan line around Trump’s face, but the contrast appears much higher in Moon’s photos
An associated Facebook page describes him, in Korean, as: ‘A man who wants to make a community with people who don’t eat meat.’
News photography experts from DailyMail.com reviewed the photos of Trump that were posted to Moon’s Twitter account on Friday, one in color and one in black and white.
They concluded that both had been through several steps of software editing to alter the color balance and contrast, steps that are generally considered inappropriate for news photos.
Trump himself has also previously joked about his skin tone, saying in September that energy-saving light bulbs make him ‘always look orange.’
A frequent visitor to the White House who goes by the name William Moon prepares to photograph Trump in the East Room of the White House on January 24
Moon posts photographs of White House events using the Twitter handle @photowhitehouse. On Saturday, President Trump tweeted that one of Moon’s photos of him, taken the day before and appearing to show a severe tan line, was ‘more fake news’
The Washington Post responded with an in-depth article interviewing experts from numerous fields, who argued that lighting was not responsible for the president’s skin tone.
The investigation concluded that atypically heavy application of bronzer, or perhaps artificial tanner, was likely the cause of Trump’s hue.
The White House has previously said that the president’s glow is due to ‘good genes’ as well as light powder application before TV appearances.
Trump reportedly prefers to apply his own makeup, in private, and has refused the services of a taxpayer-funded White House makeup artist.