How did Dezo Hoffman’s original Beatles photo get an aesthetic surgery before being added to 1994 “Live at the BBC” album? How does the venue in the photo look like now?
Front Cover
The altered photo as the front cover for “Live at the BBC” album (first from the left) and the original cover photo by Dezo Hoffman (second from the left). Few elements are removed from the original photo: The panel on John Lennon’s head, the flooring on top of The Beatles and the panel on top of George. Instead of these panels, the gaps are filled with a copying tool to match the colors. The flooring is filled with a more artificial brown color.
The background is blurred to give a superficial depth. The weird or “assertive” masking left a halo around George. The processed area suddenly becomes lighter and becomes sharper on the edge of John’s head although it has almost the same distance of the camera.
Back Cover
The altered photo as the back cover for “Live at the BBC” album (first from the left) and the original cover photo by Dezo Hoffman (second from the right).
Here, four Beatle are transferred from the sideways close to the streets to the photo of the front album cover. Ringo’s head with artificial focus problem can even be seen from the left of the re-edited back cover photo! The other components of the original Beatles were changed or blurred with digital copying.
The group members are further away in the original photo: now, Paul and Ringo are on top of each other and John is placed on Paul. Also, more highlighted fake shadows than the front cover are added.
