Ray Smith

As the mugshots of Donald Trump 's indicted allies rolled in This Week one thing tied them All Together : The Photos , products of the Fulton County Sheriff's office, all looked really, really bad.

" I thought these were all memes at first, " said Jake Olson , a photographer based in Columbus, Ohio. " It's the perfect storm of bad photos. "

Last week, Mr Trump was charged with 18 co-conspirators with attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat in The State of Georgia.

At least 11 of the co-conspirators - Mr Trump, Rudy Giuliani , Sidney Powell , Jenna Ellis , Kenneth Chesebro, Cathy Latham, Harrison Floyd, Mark Meadows , Ray Smith , Harrison Floyd and Scott Hall - have So Far been booked and processed at The Local jail in Atlanta.

Putting aside the political and legal consequences of the Atlanta indictments, the mugshots seem to be a photographer's nightmare.

" Man…" Olson said, sounding almost overcome by the poor quality. " There are so many cardinal rules of photography that they are just not following. "

A key problem is the lighting - a single overhead source, which gives the images a slightly garish sheen and each person's skin an unhealthy pallor.

" They have this one interrogation-style light, you can see they all have that little highlight on their foreheads, " said Pittsburgh photographer and professor Ray Mantle . " They all don't look great… they all look tired. "

The Grey background didn't do them any favours either, Olson said. Neither did the watermark.

" It's a bit egregious…it takes up 40% of The Top half of The Frame ! "

Both Mantle and Olson commented on The Range of expressions across the six suspects.

" If I were to try to pose somebody in a way that looks like a bad mugshot I would tell them to do exactly what they're doing, " Olson said.

The Expressions vary widely. Lawyer Jenna Ellis is beaming down the lens, while Ray Smith , also an attorney, glares into the Camera - Two strikingly different choices for a photo that, unlike most other mugshots, will be published far and wide.

" For a lot of these people, this is their major public debut, " Mantle said. " They know that everyone's going to see these. "

And some of them, Mantle said, might regret it.

Still, pulling off a good mugshot can be tough, said Cooper Lawrence, A Journalist who has written extensively about celebrity culture. It's a difficult balance to strike, a challenge that celebrities like Justin Bieber , Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton have all had to face.

" Don't smile. A smile will make it look too arrogant, " Lawrence said. " You want to smirk like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton do. A smirk says, 'yes, this sucks, but I'm gonna be fine. '"

Hair, makeup and Wardrobe - Even while in the custody of Fulton County authorities - is crucial, She Said .

But " keep it simple" She Said . " You're going to jail, not on an audition. "

Source of news: bbc.com