AP Bedevils Bush?

Drudge linked it.  Hot Air reserved judgment.  I'm calling fauxtography.

Here's the original AP image:

And here's another photo buried deeper in the same slide show:

The shape of Bush's mouth is different, but these images appear to have been snapped within a split second of each other (the fingers on his right hand and even the orientation of his shirt cuff under his suit jacket is nearly identical) and from a very similar vantage point.  The camera appears to be roughly eye-level with Bush - no sense in either photo of looking down on or up at him.

For the seal to shift so dramatically in relation to Bush's head (since the pictures appear to be taken from similar, if not identical elevations) would require the photographer to be right smack in front of the subject, in order for such an unnoticeably small elevation change to pivot the background scenery so drastically.

Anyway, that's my lay take.  It's far from conclusive, but on an even odds bet, I'd lay my money on it being just a wee bit doctored.  And even if it's not, it's fun to play Hunt the Flimflammer with the MSM.

For reference, the two images are set against each other below, highlighting the clearly close temporal proximity of the two photos.

Update:  Meh, maybe I take that back.  Looking at the microphones, the bedeviled photo does appear to be taken from a slightly lower vantage point.  No way to know without knowing how far away the photographer(s) were when the photos were taken, I guess.  For now, one has to give the photographer the benefit of the doubt, allowing that it was likely just intentionally unflattering cropping that led to the bedevilment.