This picture is very obviously odd, in so many ways.
My initial impression is that which everyone semi-consciously registers- an almost fish-eye lens upsweep of heads. But there's an apparent difference between the Obama-totem on the viewed right, and the individuals depicted upon the viewed upper left.
Person A seems to have almost no lower body (see 'legs1'), but isn't as much of a legless torso as Person D....the intercept point 'legs2' appears totally-inconsistent with the stair-step shared by PersonB. Person D is just an upper body, staring to her right in a completely-isolated fashion...and what is that object on her left cheek?
Person E is a very curious creature. Their upper body slants in synchronicity with the rest of the totem pole, but the head is bent away from the group, and backward, in a manner that maybe balances attention away from the main subject of the picture, Young Obama. But look at Person E's left knee....depicted by the carat ^. Where is it? Does it blend into the entire leg of Person F?
Similarly for Person F- his left leg merges entirely into Young Obama's absent right leg. Where does Obama's leg go??
And Young Obama's left leg, jeans-clad, seems added, and too lit from above, as it descends into the hidden intercept depicted by the equals sign =, where his waist anatomically should be. Yet this seems far too low-down, compared to the waistline of Person E (shown at
...), yet they are meant to be sharing the same step.
Also: focus and contrast. Person C is a totally-different layered entity in comparsion with Person F. They ALL look like cutouts...
Final points (for now)...back up to the top, and Person C, also (perhaps?) hunkered-up on the top step. Look at his left hand, atop what's meant to be his right arm, 'behind' the shoulder of Person B. The fingers don't appear natural at all.
And Obama...he happens to be holding a pen/roach/spliff/dark cigarette, in the extreme bottom-right of the picture. Credible?
These types of pictures really really disturb me. We shouldn't
ever be able to see the gaps in the scenery. It's hard to believe that this truely depicts reality...
nor that it's tactically-intended to be universally-convincing