Couldn't the image have simply been flipped along the vertical axis?
It could have, yes. Would an AP photographer and or Pete Souza do that? Very highly unlikely. He also combs his hair that way.
You could also ask,
Couldn't the picture have simply been made with ai?
The answer to both questions is the same.
But if I'm just asking questions and am a fragile snowflake, I can simply ignore any answers and continue asking questions.
His hairstyle isn’t symmetrical though. It has a side-part on the opposite side of his injured ear. So unless he suddenly decided to change the part of his hair (which, when you consider how involved it actually is because it’s a massive combover) it’s unlikely to be a flipped image.
In short: Because we can’t see his hair part in this image, we know it’s likely not flipped.
Couldn't the image have simply been flipped along the vertical axis?
It could have, yes. Would an AP photographer and or Pete Souza do that? Very highly unlikely. He also combs his hair that way.
You could also ask,
Couldn't the picture have simply been made with ai?
The answer to both questions is the same.
But if I'm just asking questions and am a fragile snowflake, I can simply ignore any answers and continue asking questions.
His hairstyle isn’t symmetrical though. It has a side-part on the opposite side of his injured ear. So unless he suddenly decided to change the part of his hair (which, when you consider how involved it actually is because it’s a massive combover) it’s unlikely to be a flipped image.
In short: Because we can’t see his hair part in this image, we know it’s likely not flipped.