Official Obama Portrait Released (PHOTO)

Barack Obama's office has released the new official presidential portrait. The photograph was taken by new official White House photographer Pete Souza, and marks the first time a presidential portrait was taken with a digital camera.

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Comments

[zeedubya]

I wish him the best for all of us.

[GoodNews]

I wonder if he taste like cigarettes, ew!

[GoodNews]

Man! I just want to kiss him.

[Avigdor]

What's up with the flag pin?

[bluegreen]

i like it a lot. it shows a lot of personality and he looks quicksilver smart in the eyes. i guess this is what you get when you are scared and pray really hard for your country! i hope we deserve what we worked for in electing him and that we continue to work hard to push our democracy forward every day.

[Avigdor]

I don't think there's any question that you deserve what you worked for in electing him. The problem is, the rest of us (nearly 60 million Americans) DON'T deserve it, but will have to suffer it anyway.

[JFKObama]

He should have smiled. I like this picture better :

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poster-sized_portrait_of_Barack_Obama.jpg

[Geranium]

He looks like a naughty little boy who just did something really bad.

[bluegreen]

down, girl! lol but you are right, he does!

but the main thing i see is a strong intelligence and confidence. thank goodness because our future looks rough for a while.

[zbjordan23]

I guess Obama doesnt mid the gray hairs...

[daBinsi]

I dont like this much! needs more photoshop modifications. Is there any other pics?

[dammitjanet]

Holy crap! Who knew I could get so excited about a picture!! About time someone other than a member of the Old White Rich Man's club became the leader of this diverse nation!

[roshni]

True, but I've seen and taken better pictures of him. This one doesn't really do h im justice. He is a gorgeous man.

[brooklyn francis]

Actually--if you go to the Obama site via the link--what they have up there IS indeed brighter and with better color. It looks MUCH better--especially the color.

[PippiLongstocking]

That one does look better.

[brooklyn francis]

Hmm--this one's tough.

It's kinda dark around the eyes. As a photographer I wonder--how could they have made it look brighter and yet maintained a true-to-life skin tone? The whole photo needs to be brighter. I just put it through Photoshop and even with an auto Levels and it looks much better. The colors look better, too--not so greyed out.

If only they had moved the strobe from 8:30 or so to around 7:00 (Obama as center of clock--camera at 6:00) and amped it up a bit. Yes, brighter in general.

While the times may be somewhat dark, we need some brightness around our President.

[johnqdemocrat]

Relax people. This is an official picture to be used for official United States business. If you want to critique a picture tell your mom to change her god-awful facebook profile pic.

BTW...my prez looks good! I'm so proud!

[harriscrl3]

I like it I think it captures the moment perfectly. He is not smiling these are tough times but if you look into his eyes you can see the optimism. I love looking at his eyes. They say the eyes are the window to the soul and looking into his eyes you can see he has a kind soul.

Carol

[amistad]

Yes, yes, and yes!!!
I am a fan of Carol!!!! :)

[Cooper1608]

Right on Johq, I agree with you 100%.

[ckfan]

All of these negative comments about a picture?? Geez. Who cares.

[PrincessAnnie]

He should have smiled. His smile is second-to-none and would have been a welcome portrait after the last eight years we've had.

[harriscrl3]

I actually think its good that he didnt smile I dont think the challenges that we face warrants it. Bush could smile cause when he came into office we had prosperity and we were not fighting any wars. Now he has increased the national debt by trillion of dollars and we are fighting two wars. Now exactly a happy moment in our history. I like the picture because while he is not smiling he does look optimistic

Carol