She extended her slender fingers, pointing at the position of the sun in the photo, and then moved them down: "The sun first shines through the tree shade before it falls on the person, so the sun, shade, and person should be connected by a straight line of light."
Su Xingqi coldly said, "It’s already a straight line. Can’t you see that?"
Su Xingyu gestured peripherally at the large screen photo, tracing an arc across the shade and the person: "Do you even know what a straight line is? Su Xingqi, you’re just a model. You think overly edited photos can hide all traces of staging; I really don’t know if I should say you’re uneducated or ignorant and fearless."
"You!" Su Xingqi was furious, uneducated? Ignorant and fearless? This was unabashed sarcasm!
Beside her, Lin Luna’s expression wasn’t good either. She secretly tugged at Su Xingqi, signaling her to stay calm, as she spoke up to Su Xingyu: "It is clearly a straight line. Look how the sunlight beams through the shade, projecting the shapes of leaves onto the person, and the positions of those shadows... the angles are absolutely correct! Su Xingyu, you’re the ignorant and fearless one!"
"Absolutely correct?" Su Xingyu’s face displayed a mocking smile, "Lin Luna, you’re really confident in your post-processing skills. I remember the rules for this street photography contest allow editing only within the scope of minor color adjustments and contrast tweaks, right? Who allowed you to shift the entire sunlight to perfectly fall on the model’s shoulder blades, disguising it as naturally projected angel wings? The focal point of your entire photo is intentionally fabricated!
"You disagree? Then I’ll analyze it for you.
"Yes, you did align the shade and person with a straight line, even meticulously stitching the shadows as if it was flawless. But you forgot the light."
"The sun at this angle," she pointed at the sun again, "casts over here, and the post-process adjustment position, its lighting intensity differs. Of course, you know this common sense, so you dimmed the brightness after shifting the sunlight and shade, but you forgot how intricate tree leaves are. Their light variations are so complex, even a small reflection can expose you. Here, here, and here..."
She pointed at several inconspicuous spots, some where light shone on leaves with subtle glimmering, others where there was an incongruous green in the shadows: "These are all loose ends. The world of light is a meticulous and complex one, slightly tilting can affect everything, who gave you the courage to arrogantly think mere post-editing can flawlessly clean up the light-shadow without professional lighting?" Read full story at novᴇlfire.net
She spoke at length, and with each sentence, Lin Luna and Su Xingqi’s faces grew paler.
The crowd remained silent, stunned by Su Xingyu’s argument, gravely examining the flaws she pointed out, realizing they needed repeated comparisons with the large screen’s previous published capture data to spot the inaccuracies. Some even pulled out professional materials to consult.
The girl named Su Xingyu...
Wha─What kind of monster is she? With just her bare eyes, unearthing all this in such a short time?
This... is terrifying!
Even the host was shocked, regaining composure after a long moment: "Indeed, natural outdoor light is far more complex than studio lighting, without a professional photography team and a powerful lighting designer’s guidance, it’s impossible to rely only on post-editing to seamlessly piece together moved layers. The areas Miss Su Xingyu pointed out do indeed have issues."
"No... that’s not true!" Hearing the host’s judgment, Su Xingqi snapped back, looking somewhat frantic, "Host, you also said we didn’t use lighting designers! I didn’t even know Lin Luna altered the light-shadow effects, I’m just a model, don’t understand post-editing, I didn’t know the photo was non-compliant!"
"Su Xingqi..." Lin Luna suddenly raised her head, looking at her incredulously, is she planning to make her solely responsible for the photo’s fraud? But clearly at the start of shooting, Lin Luna had informed her the light and shadow needed cutting and splicing!
"Sorry, I really knew nothing." Su Xingqi faced the audience and deeply bowed, "I was merely photographed by Luna, believing since it was candid, not staged, this photo complied with rules, I’m sorry everyone."
Su Xingyu was also shocked, this Su Xingqi, the speed at which she abandons her teammates is remarkable, immediately pushing her teammate to take the fall when the situation goes south, preserving herself with ruthless decisiveness, it’s simply appalling.
Lin Luna backed away listlessly: "Su Xingqi... Xingqi... you can’t do this, you knew everything, you insisted I join this contest, saying you wanted to show Su Xingyu some grit!"
The audience erupted, even the online livestream exploded—
"What, Su Xingqi brought people to join this contest specifically to spite Su Xingyu?"
"What grudge do they have?"
"You guys must not know, Su Xingqi has disclosed her family situation before, she has a half-sister named Su Xingyu! Seeing how this unfolds, it’s unlikely to be a case of same names."
"What? Su Xingyu is Su Xingqi’s sister?"
"There are plenty of feuding sisters nowadays, I believe it if it’s revenge."
"If there really is bad blood, Lin Luna indeed might have been used by Su Xingqi!"
"Look at Lin Luna, she seems so pitiful, as if betrayed and abandoned, it must be Su Xingqi’s fault."
"Su Xingqi seems highly suspicious..."
The onlookers enjoyed the drama, discussing fervently.
Amidst the clamor, Su Xingyu smirked at Su Xingqi: "Don’t shove everything onto Lin Luna. Even if Lin Luna made mistakes, it doesn’t make you an innocent white lily! Su Xingqi, you say the photo wasn’t staged? You claim you were unaware? Fine, then let me continue analyzing..."
Her slender, fair fingers pointed again at the photo on the large screen.
The venue quickly quieted down, everyone held their breath to hear more from Su Xingyu. Now they adored the girl’s dissection, each word piercing and superb, it was a masterful perspective.
Su Xingyu wore a graceful gown, standing elegantly on stage: "The height in the photo is also wrong. We all know Su Xingqi is a model, the official height stated is 178, but many models exaggerate their heights, and according to what I know, Su Xingqi’s real height is only 175..."
"You’re talking nonsense!" Su Xingqi hadn’t expected herself to be publicly exposed, and hitting her sore spot again, she erupted.