President Obama's official portrait: the first ever taken with a digital camera
By Laura June 
posted Jan 14th 2009 3:54PM
posted Jan 14th 2009 3:54PM
You're now gazing at President Barack Obama's just-released official portrait -- the first of a U.S. president ever taken with a digital camera. That means we can peek at the EXIF data -- this fine specimen of portraiture was snapped with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II on January 13th, 2009 at 5:38 pm with no flash, using a 105mm lens stopped to f/10 at a 1/125 exposure, with an ISO of 100 by newly crowned official White House photographer Pete Souza. Nice work, Souza -- but we think it could use a few lens flares.
[Thanks, Penny]
[Thanks, Penny]
What couldn't use more lens flare is what I ask!
And Cowbell. Can never have too much cowbell!
Fringe....Fringe could certainly not use anymore lens flare.
Lens flare? I can see loads and loads of shitty photoshop filters on this photo, like some 14yo who's just had his first camera along with downloaded photoshop. new internet phenomenon?:)
ILoveApple, I'm gonna rank you up, as that is clearly the opposite effect of what you wanted.
Musta been a shitty camera. Why is the flag so blurry?
Obama looks better in the pic with Spiderman !
johan your so rascist it desgusts me sometiems
@ Flashpoint
I hope you're kidding.
*cough* DOF *cough*
He's obviously kidding. Even if most peeps don't know what to call it - they know that pics where the subject is in focus and other things are out of focus are "pro looking" / "cool" / "other".... I'm curious as to the lens being stopped to f/10 which would be great for infinate focus / razor sharp type images - or if Obama had a sun-like ray of light eminating from his face.... saying that, I'm not a pro 'tog so there's probably a fairly standard reason for having f/10 in a shot like this that I just don't know about...... maybe there's no dimmer switch on the lights haha
@ Flashpoint
It's called creating depth. Photography 101.
I hate being first :(
Your email filling up Fernando?
+1 for cowbell
I'll tell you what, though... it could use a little more flare in general. That background is bo-ring.
I dont think that one was take at f10... if so the flag must have been like 20 feet behind.
mmm... maybe... its a 105mm after all... still the flag is quite far.
I love my 85mm 1.8 canon lens!! the best for portrait at a realistic price!
damn...he could of shown his perfect white teeth and lovely smile but he didn't...darn formal traditions!!!!
Why f/10? f/8 is the sweet spot for many lenses, where they have the best sharpness. f/10 is pretty close to that. The other thing is that when you're up close, you have to stop down, so that his entire face will be in focus. If he had it around f/4, Obama's eyes would be in focus, but his ears would be a little bit fuzzy. Long focal lengths up close like that will give you very shallow depth of field.
Also, even though the EXIF data says "no flash", I doubt that he got an exposure at f/10, 1/125 and ISO 100 without studio strobes. They were probably triggered with a hotshoe or the flash sync socket.
thats a very amature photo, they must do it with a sinar back and a 80mm rodenstock lens. hey he is the world first man and you used a chip canon camera? ahmadinejhad photos are better in quality(sure not in face)
That's one sexy n....!
@Laura June
obviously at least 2 lights were used, probably strobes. you can clearly see them in his eyes. so yes, flash was used. not to mention the obvious f10 aperture is a dead givaway for an indoor shot at iso 100
I've got a crush on Obama!
So does the media!
Can't tell whats more fugly - this picture or your comment... He's your president! You're not supposed to have a crush on the president!
And every hipster
he's so *dreamy*
*swoon*
Obama Girl?
You should see a psychiatrist about that! He's only a politician that's not different than anybody else in D.C.
You plebs, he's quoting a popular viral
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU
It must not have been that popular then.
Calling people plebs because they haven't seen a youtube video? Isn't that the wrong way around?
Now Obama has an American flag on his lapel,will he pledge it in his four years
Now that's a Fine Looking President
. All HAIL OBAMA creator of our robot lords!
I would like to see the same photo taken 2 years from now (instead of at the end of his term). The amount of grey hair and wrinkles will be astonishing! Weight of the world on those shoulders, so I say lower those expectations people. 1000 Obamas could not cure what ails us (and humanity for that matter).
PS Greed, clickishness and lack of compassion for fellow man are powerful human flaws. We are doomed and only grey visitors from beyond the stars can save this flawed species...
Even though I voted for the guy, this is not the first official portrait of a US President. Until he actually becomes President, this will be just a nice picture of the President Elect. It's a mater of time, but it's accurate.
yeah, I popped the pic into photoshop and in the official info field it states, "Official portrait of President-elect Barack Obama on Jan. 13, 2009."
So it's engadget messing with the wording.
I'm going to fix this photo up a bit.
@Fankenstein Black Done! Here is what Obama might look like in 4 years, courtesy of CNN:
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/HEALTH/01/06/presidential.health.aging/art.obama.popphoto.jpg
Total Alpha Male!
j/king lmao!
Because typing 'o' instead of '/' just isn't right?
it's more like "jay-kaying". sometimes i actually prefer to use "jay-kay" instead of saying "just kidding", lol.
J/K is commonly used and is short for 'just kidding', hence the 2 letters.
Just kiddinging...?
jay you ess tea kay aye deedee aye en gee!
I took the first ever digital picture of my arse this morning, do you wanna write a story about that?
Was your "arse" elected President of the United States of America? Oh, no? Then probably not.
Sick burn, Joshtops; did you dictate that comment with your vaiop(hone)?
I thought that was the best part of the trailer video..."BUY SELL SELL BUY BUY."
Naaaah, Id still rather see his ass than Mr. O.
Well, if his arse is Gordon Brown (and Gordon Brown's face definitely does look like a hairy arse) he became the Prime Minister of the Queen's favourite country a few months ago.
@eggothewaffle "Joshtops!" You're my hero.
A screenshot of this thread has now been taken for later reference. Thank you very much.
Maybe his Arse is the President of Flatulence.
Nilay, it's good to know that there's a brown brother holding down the fort at Engadget. *You're* the hero here since you're the one foiling Joshtops's schemes to rule the world by buying stocks in Palm with his Vaio Phone.
cool! He's wearing his flag pin.
@Kastonie: You dumbshit. That was during the National Anthem, which doesn't require you to place your hand over your heart. Now how about removing your head from your ass?
@Me
Indeed. It's about time he broke that out.
First thing i noticed lol
He wears a flag tie too, but there's no stars on it to represent the states WHAT IS HE TELLING US!?!!
But maybe he was rubbing out alaska and got carried away and it's all good :)
It only has two US flags. I think it could use a couple of dozen more, along with some eagles, guns, and also to be fair include some activist signs. It would be more of a landscape than portrait though.
Don't forget a McDonald's.
can the white house use digital cameras now?
"YES WE CAN!"
It already knew how to use email and the Executive branch taught it how to also delete them.
lol
That's a nice photo. But, what's this? Is that a flag pin? And a small one at that. Too small, if you ask me...
(Yes. That whole non-issue flag pin thing was one of the dumbest things the media ever did in the past 8 years.)
Yeah, seriously. It makes me sad that there are so many stupid people in this world that think he has to wear some pin to be patriotic that he eventually had to cave, rather than just slap every one of those people in the face. He's probably the first president to wear a flag pin in the portrait, and the only reason why is that the media blew that up. Lame.
-Taylor
America has lost its common sense....wait...did I just said some common sense?
Bush looks like a monkey. Obama is solid
YOU RACIST!!!!1111!!!!!!111!!!
Awesome! Truly a great day for the progress of American Society.
...you meant American Socialism...right?
@Murc
Socialism or not his ideas could save and improve the lives of many people.
But I guess you (as well many people in US) are ignorant of what socialism truly is or at least what it means. - no offense still I respect your opinion..
but as you as many people you should check and see what is it and why is it so bad.
I know this.. In Socialism Rich are still Rich and poor are still poor but the don't die because they can't afford the doctor or don't become homeless because something bad happened once in their lives.
If you yet think that having so many homeless and people afraid to go to the doctor that is a sing of a healthy and succeeded society I must say that you might be a bit wrong.
obviously it was taken with off camera strobes. you can see the reflection of an umbrella and a soft box in his eye.
No, that's a glimmer of hope.
-Taylor
At least one flash has been used. I guess studio flash. Releases with sync cable or similar is not logged in the data.
Actually, with those numbers, he HAD to be using a flash, unless it was bright as HELL out there (like, standing on the sun bright). But this is the presidential portrait, so he wasn't just going to be using an on-camera flash, he likely had a few strobes set up in the room, but they could have been triggered through the wired port, and as far as i know the camera doesn't know anything about what's going on on the other end, hence it thinking there was no flash.
-Taylor
In the EXIF data, the "flash did not fire" info will come up any time that a Canon speedlite isn't triggered. So since this was shot with off-camera strobes, it'll show as "no flash" in the data.
They easily could have had off-camera light kits or something allowing for those settings.
I'm pretty sure they had a nice professional setup with a couple of diffuser umbrellas and softboxes
Of course there was flash...triggered by PocketWizards...you can see the softbox in his eye...duh!
Doesn't have to be PocketWizard. Could also be an IR transmitter or SinarBron RF, or it could just be the old fashioned X-Sync cable. None of these communicate with the camera short of the camera basically shorting a circuit, so EXIF records "flash did not fire." We have this issue all the time in the studio. And that main light isn't a softbox, it's an umbrella. The fill light on his proper left appears to be bounce off of a fill and not a softbox either.
Go Canon!
Go where?
Fanboy?
And the Nikon fanboys go republican...
I can't believe he let that picture be taken while his tie was asymmetrical. Double Windsor knot FTW!
I have to agree with your knot preference.
That knot is supposed to be asymmetrical, it's a four-in-hand knot. He would use a double Windsor if he were wearing a spread collar, but he's he's wearing a point collar, so the four-in-hand is appropriate.
double windsor is for stuffy uptight straight arrows, obama is way too cool for that, 4-in-hand ftw
Everything is better with lens flares! Including this reply.
Nice ears !
What are these guys talking about PRESIDENT OBAMA!!?? Did I miss something? Hey- you have to wait 6 more days before you get a party started...
Oh there was definitely flash used. One strobe to picture left and either a reflector or less intense strobe to picture right.. kinda a Rembrandt-ish lighting setup... but that wouldn't show in the EXIF, would it? :)
Am I the only one who doesn't like the composition of this portrait, um, at all? And there are some really distracting shadows. I think most of the Strobist group could've taken a better portrait!
Just my two cents...
I would say it's just fine. The shadows don't distract me. I'm not a huge fan of the "light everywhere" look that it seems man strobist enthusiasts seem to adhere to. Shadows make photos interesting, IMO.
Couldn't they have photoshopped the lint out of his lapel?
Come to think of it, you're right, Jesse. The portrait I have of Reagan in my hall is a much nicer portrait :)
Trivia: did you realize that Pete Souza was also the official White House photographer under Ronald Raegan's second term?
And Peter Souza III was the Duke of Madeira. No relation.
is it just me or does his head look HUGE?
@Marc: I was going to say the same thing.
geeks have small shoulders
Focus is a bit soft. Would have done it at f/5. :P
Whew, glad it wasn't a Nikon. Would have had to switch.