This photograph of the host and judges for the popular television show American Idol was scheduled for publication when it caught the attention of a photo-editor who was concerned that the image was doctored.

We found traces of tampering when we examined each eye. First, the inconsistencies in the shape of the specular highlight on the eyes suggest that each person was originally photographed under different lighting conditions. Second, from the location of these highlights, we can mathematically determine the 3-D location of the lights under which each person was originally photographed. We have determined that the positions of the lights in this image are inconsistent and conclude that this image is a composite of at least three images.