There wasn’t Photoshop back then, but this portrait of Abraham Lincoln was manipulated too. Credit: Reddit
Photoshop is a powerful tool that gives photographers and digital artists the ability to manipulate images and make any photo feel more dramatic. Magazines always retouch images so the cover story appears compelling and attractive. Tabloid news agencies often alter photos when they want to create a big gossip story, or when they can’t obtain the rights of the photo they need. These images and have all went viral at some point and many people believed they were real.
Check out our roundup of the most popular photos that were used to trick us.
1. The World Trade Center tourist
This photo surfaced days after the September 11, attacks. It was believed this photo was on a digital camera that was found in the debris of the World Trade Center. After much speculation, it was deemed as a hoax. Snopes.com debunked the photo and pointed out several imperfections including the the way the man is dressed, light and shadow placement and the incorrect font used for the timestamp.
2. Michelle Obama’s dress
Credit: Imgur
When “Argo” received an Academy Award for Best Picture, the First Lady of The United States Michelle Obama appeared on television via satellite to announce the award wearing a sleeveless dress. Networks in Iran aired a still image of her with sleeves added. According to image forensics companyFour and Six her dress was “deemed a transgression by Iranian authorities, so they modified the photo to give her sleeves and a more modest neckline.”
3. Bye Hillary, bye
In May of 2011 two Orthodox Jewish publications, Di Tzitung and De Voch, removed Hillary Clinton and Audrey Tomason from the photograph they ran in their paper for religious reasons. The Di Tzitung released a statement about the edit. “In accord with our religious beliefs, we do not publish photos of women, which in no way relegates them to a lower status… Because of laws of modesty, we are not allowed to publish pictures of women, and we regret if this gives an impression of disparaging to women, which is certainly never our intention. We apologize if this was seen as offensive.” Read the full statement at the bottom of the post.” You can find the full report on the Washington Post blog.
4. Bin Laden graphic photo
A photo reported to be Osama Bin Laden was shown on Pakistani television networks. As soon as the chilling image emerged, popular British publications including The Times, Telegraph, Sun, Mirror and Mail all published it on their sites. It turned out the photo is a composite of three photos according reports byThe Guardian UK.
5. Brad Pitt and Angelina “spotted” together
Aww, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were spotted on a beach! Actually, no. To create gossip, the tabloid magazine Star created the image to make it appear as if they were taking a playful stroll on the beach. We see what you did here. The photo of Pitt was taken in 2005 and Jolie’s photo was taken in 2004 , according the Four and Six.
6. O.J. Simpson
Credit: Imgur
Shortly after O.J. Simpson was arrested for murder, Time magazine and Newsweek both used his mugshot photo on the cover. You can clearly see how Time magazine altered the image to make it appear dark and dramatic. Photo-illustratorMatt Mahurin was asked to “artistically interpret” Simpson’s mugshot, according to Museum of Hoaxes, a website dedicated to exploring misinformation.
7. Hurricane Irene
Credit: Imgur
After Hurricane Irene struck Puerto Rico, a photo of shark swimming in a flooded street surfaced and it went viral. It was later determined that the shark was from an Africa Geographic photo from 2005. Shame on you.
8. Hurricane Sandy over Statue of Liberty
This photo of storm clouds swirling around Lady Liberty is fake. According to Four and Six, the image was created by using photographer and storm chaser Mike Hollingshead’s photo of a supercell in Nebraska. This image was shared on social media shortly after Superstorm Sandy hit New York City, and spread like wildfire. We bet you thought that was real.
