The thing is, these people are only separated from me by one degree - they are friends with a good friend of mine - and I confirmed the photo with the person wh

The thing is, these people are only separated from me by one degree - they are friends with a good friend of mine - and I confirmed the photo with the person who took it via email (and got the full-size version at that time as well). I think it is very, very unlikely that the photo is faked. If that is the case, however, that makes it an interesting photo not just because of the subject matter, but because it is capable of making most people think it is fake even though it is not. As far as the comments about the flash go, there is evidence for a flash. First of all, the tapetum lucidum is highly reflective (check out this photo of cats: http://bp1.blogger.com/_N9wtKAb3vvc/RdYLsh3L3VI/AAAAAAAAAA8/e9K4MYZBcJE/s1600-h/IMG_7251.JPG http://bp1.blogger.com/_N9wtKAb3vvc/RdYLsh3L3VI/AAAAAAAAAA8/...), or do a search and you'll turn up some freaky examples (e.g. http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/484118524_dce1f8c203.jpg http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/484118524_dce1f8c203.jpg) Secondly, if you look under the arm of the woman in the foreground, you can see a reflection from a flash there as well, probably from a piece of metal. The photo's been looked at by a lot of people but I have yet to see a criticism that enters the realm of the scientific. The best criticisms revolve around questioning whether or not it was a wolf, which I think is a much better line of criticism, since there is no way to be sure (but it does seem unlikely).