The Worst of Road Signs

[J N Winkler]

They don't agree with the S-drawings.

[Alps]

I must say, if he really did photoshop them, kudos, because that's a lot of work to put into about 300 photos.

--kudos ++waytoomuchtimeonhishands

[empirestate]

I have no reason to believe the photos are real, fake, or otherwise, as I'm nowhere near the West Coast, but I would remind folks that it's possible to Photoshop a photo without actually changing the content (i.e., bringing a sign into different brightness/contrast versus the surrounding image).

[formulanone]

I have no reason to believe the photos are real, fake, or otherwise, as I'm nowhere near the West Coast, but I would remind folks that it's possible to Photoshop a photo without actually changing the content (i.e., bringing a sign into different brightness/contrast versus the surrounding image).

To be honest, I tinker with the contrast and levels about 90% of the time. But I don't alter wording, fonts, spacing, obscuring anything, nor mess with proportions (unless re-sizing the entire shot).

Doctoring the images isn't really the point of this thread, anyhow (there's a whole fantasy or illustration threads for that), and detracts from reality. I'm sure many of us here improve the image for the sake of proof or illustration, rather than to deceive or trick.

--kudos ++waytoomuchtimeonhishands

It's one thing to make a concept, but another thing to present something as fact which patently isn't. I didn't look through 300 shots, but presenting them as anything more than folly or "what if" isn't quite right, in my opinion.

[myosh_tino]

Just to show how quickly someone can Photoshop a sign, here's one I "transformed" into a Clearview sign.  It took me about 15-20 minutes to do this...


Original Sign from AARoads Gallery...

[texaskdog]

15-20 minutes of your life you'll never get back

[Kacie Jane]

I smell something fishy here.  On the Flickr page, it says the photo was taken on July 31, 2011 and was uploaded on August 13, 2011.  The fact that KEK says he was in Portland a week ago and didn't notice these signs makes me wonder... 

It's odd too, since I left for college in late September 2011, and I don't recall seeing those signs over the summer.  I was in California for winter break, but I was back in the Portland-Vancouver area for Spring Break and didn't notice.  I'll call a friend and ask them to take a picture for me for confirmation. 

I honestly stopped paying attention to local road signs, since I'm used to them, and figured they wouldn't change, but I figure Clearview would pop up in my peripherals.   

That one so looks photoshopped to me. lol.

Well if it is, I didn't do it.  Raymond Yu posts most of his pictures from the LA area, so I doubt he'd take the time to photoshop a bunch of Oregonian signs.  It is odd that I didn't catch them, but I'm fairly certain they're real. 

I was in the Portland area (drove all of I-205 northbound, and some of I-5 southbound through there) the week before those pics were uploaded -- after it says they were taken.  I can say definitively they're fake.  It's possible that I could have missed the occasional Clearview sign, but not a string of them.  These Clearview shields certainly did/do not exist.

Plus, you can tell by the pixels.  (Genuinely.  The horizontal lines on the panel disappear between the letters.)

[PHLBOS]

I was in the Portland area (drove all of I-205 northbound, and some of I-5 southbound through there) the week before those pics were uploaded -- after it says they were taken.  I can say definitively they're fake.  It's possible that I could have missed the occasional Clearview sign, but not a string of them.  These Clearview shields certainly did/do not exist.

Plus, you can tell by the pixels.  (Genuinely.  The horizontal lines on the panel disappear between the letters.)

I concurr.  I was along that stretch of I-205 last summer; no Clearview lettering and/or shields were in sight.

[KEK Inc.]

Well, now that we're "alert" of these photos, the only way to know if they're real is if someone can report on it.  Unfortunately, it will be a while until I'll be down in Portland.  xonhulu claimed he's coming up to Portland from Salem this weekend.

[xonhulu]

I can call BS on him, too.  He has a Clearview sign for Keubler Blvd here in Salem posted on his website; I saw it 20 minutes ago and it was definitely not Clearview!

I don't know why this doofus put these doctored photos up, but he's full of shit.

[Tarkus]

I just drove I-5 from OR-217 (Exit 292) down to Glenwood Blvd in Eugene (Exit 191) yesterday afternoon.  No Clearview at all, and the new signs that I hadn't seen before that way were all Highway Gothic.  This is all fake, fake, fake.  In fact, the only Clearview I'm aware of in Oregon is the new mixed-case blade signs installed by the City of Portland (yet they don't have enough money to fill potholes . . .).  It seems not all the signs are Clearview-photoshopped, and some of the signs appear to be unaltered.  But then we have things like the following:



Boringo?  That particular locale is actually named Boring--here's the real sign, off the I-205 SB Sunnyside/Sunnybrook Exit (Exit 14) in Clackamas.  Why Photoshop an "o" onto the end of the name?  

In conclusion, this guy's a loon and a half.

[KEK Inc.]

Oh wow.  Didn't see the Boringo sign before, and I did go to Clackamas mall multiple times over the summer, specificially pointing out Boring, Oregon to a friend who lives in Japan on that sign. 

So the ultimate question is why?  That takes a lot of time to doctor all of those photos.  He has thousands of photos, and most of his California and Washington photos seem legit, so I wonder why he took the effort to edit the Oregon ones.  For that particular one, it's possible he did it for visibility, but why the clearview?

I post on video game forums too, but I didn't realize trolling was prevalent in the road-geek community too...

[myosh_tino]

He has thousands of photos, and most of his California and Washington photos seem legit, so I wonder why he took the effort to edit the Oregon ones.  

I am beginning to question the legitimacy of the three California overhead signs that feature a separate exit tab posted in the Pacific Southwest board.  I know we have a number of members from the Los Angeles area so maybe one of them can go out and verify whether the signs are legit or not.  Two of the signs appear to be located on westbound CA-60 at or around the Mountain Avenue exit in Chino.  The Morongo Trail sign is located on eastbound I-10 near the Morongo Casino.

I woud suggest that we leave comments (not mean-spirited comments like "your signs are fakes... you suck!" but more along the lines of "when did Oregon start using Clearview?") to see why the photos were doctored.  I would be really curious to see what his reply is.

[KEK Inc.]

I messaged him yesterday asking him if he doctored the photos, so if he denies it, idk...  Haven't heard from him yet.

Me too, to be honest.  I'm skeptical of even the center-tabbed images, because all of those photos were from him. 

I've seen external tabs in rural California, but they weren't on gantries, and the numerals weren't that big. 

[myosh_tino]

I just left a comment for him on the I-5 southbound photo for exit 6.  I'll see if he responds.  Here's a direct link to the Flickr page... http://www.flickr.com/photos/raymondyue/6044687550/in/set-72157627301603621?reg=1&src=comment

The center-tabbed sign that kicked off a Pacific Southwest thread (CA-60 at I-710) is legit.  Google Street View comfirms this... http://www.google.com/maps?ll=34.036675,-118.161577&spn=0.001958,0.001821&hnear=Cupertino,+Santa+Clara,+California&t=k&z=19&layer=c&cbll=34.036673,-118.161491&panoid=TtGT3TMMzwK5D1hmI_Zstw&cbp=12,263.55,,1,-2.58

So is the I-405 at I-10 sign... http://www.google.com/maps?ll=34.02553,-118.428788&spn=0.000986,0.000911&hnear=Cupertino,+Santa+Clara,+California&t=k&z=20&layer=c&cbll=34.025664,-118.428857&panoid=eMJe5Wfr7XZYf6dhD4FGnQ&cbp=12,325.59,,1,-9.08

[KEK Inc.]

I think he deleted your comment.  lol

Well sorry for that commotion guys.  When I first saw it, I thought it looked funny due to the contrast, but I second guessed and thought maybe it's his camera.  I was baffled that I didn't catch the Portland-area ones when I was down there 2 weeks ago.  Still not sure why he doctored those photos.  It's a pretty deceiving thing to do...

[myosh_tino]

I think he deleted your comment.  lol

Well sorry for that commotion guys.  When I first saw it, I thought it looked funny due to the contrast, but I second guessed and thought maybe it's his camera.  I was baffled that I didn't catch the Portland-area ones when I was down there 2 weeks ago.  Still not sure why he doctored those photos.  It's a pretty deceiving thing to do...

Yeah, I just noticed that and definitely NOT happy about it.

No need to apologize about the "commotion".  Some of the photos you posted had me thinking "when did Oregon go Clearview" but that one on south I-5 at Mt Ashland did not look right.

Edit: I entered the same comment asking when Oregon switched to Clearview on a few dozen of his photos.  The last photo I commented on, I left a more detailed explanation as to why I did what I did and another request on the validity of his photos.  If he wants to delete my comments, he'll need to find which photos I commented on (unless there's some sort of way to block me completely) and delete them one-by-one.

[KEK Inc.]

I also commented on random photos, and pointed out that I drove by some of them recently. 

Obviously he's been on, and he hasn't replied to my PM, so he's on the denial path...  His credibility is about zilch about now.

[codyg1985]

A fugly helvetica interstate shield installation here in Huntsville, AL. Complete with misspelling the JCT banner:



Full Size

[hbelkins]

"JTC" ?????

[myosh_tino]

I messaged him yesterday asking him if he doctored the photos, so if he denies it, idk...  Haven't heard from him yet.

Me too, to be honest.  I'm skeptical of even the center-tabbed images, because all of those photos were from him. 

I've seen external tabs in rural California, but they weren't on gantries, and the numerals weren't that big. 

I got a reply from RaymondYu and he confirms the photos with the Clearview signs were altered.  I did not ask about the California signs that feature a separate exit tab.  The tabs seem to be larger than 24" but less than the 30" spec from the FHWA and the exit number appears to be Series D instead of Series E.

[KEK Inc.]

I was going to ask him about that too, but he blocked me.  He did message me, "Oregon DOT started to use Clearview font overhead sign on my fictitious photos and it is just a sample that I learned from Arizona and Texas DOT overhead signs using Clearview font signs since July 2007."

[agentsteel53]

Oregon DOT started to use Clearview font overhead sign on my fictitious photos

what, that doesn't even make any grammatical sense.

what a penis clown.

[KEK Inc.]

what, that doesn't even make any grammatical sense.

what a penis clown.

lol, pretty much.  I was a "flickr contact" with him, and the fact that he blatantly blocked me, and deleted all of my comments (including myosh's comments) sort of indicates he's trying to make people believe they're real.  Something only said type of clown would do.   

[formulanone]

Yeah, the close-ups of the lettering are quite obvious.