Is Obama black? No, he is green.

It is politically incorrect to talk about skin color, especially when we should not judge by skin color but the content of a man’s character.

But, Barack Obama is green, at least he photographs that way. I am a photographer and have been around long enough to be aware that if you are not aware of human skin color, then you will not make it in the portraiture department. We have all watched enough bad video that our mind provides color correction automatically and we cease to notice or object to the lack of correct “white balance”. Any good photographer or videographer knows how to adjust his camera to faithfully reproduce correct colors, but apparently that is not an easy thing to do when Mr. Obama is the subject. Being an astute observer I have wondered whether Obama has a medical condition with his liver or kidneys. It was only recently when I saw a video clip provided for the 100^th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America that I began to research this issue.

It is a well known fact that politicians suffer from bad light images recorded in sports and political venues. Some politicians such as Sarah Palen and Mitt Romney are very savvy about makeup and take precautions to avoid the ghostly images from these venues. In researching Obama, I am finding that the new color schemes in the White House are not doing him any favors. The Oval Office colors are ghastly and the room where the Ramadan Dinner was held is even worse.

The following sample pictures were gathered mostly from video clips. Three of them are easy to find on websites of the major news services.

Starting from the left, The first image was taken on election night.

The second one was taken in a special Video cubby in the White House while the Oval Office was being finished. The question here is, “Did the Videographer or the make up artist use Caucasion bias?” When I first saw the video I almost fell out of my chair and called to my wife to come take a look. I thought he was going through a Michael Jackson phase.

The third image was taken in the Oval Office right after the decorators had finished. I and others had noticed for the month prior to this shot that gold striped drapes were being used that I had never seen before in the White House. I would give the camera staff a D minus on the lighting. It was dull and lifeless. His posing was statuesque, in other words he did not move a single muscle below his neck for the entire speech, nor did the camera move in or out. I ran the whole speech in high speed and it was eerie how immobile the entire experience was.

The last image was from the View. A soft filter was used and perfectly balanced light. He was much more animated and entertaining.