One of the things that helped photography evolve was its ability to portray the truth. Unlike a drawing or something coming from imagination or memory, photography was born as a mirror of reality. It’s this undeniable credibility that has made it come so far and has also put it in conflict with other forms of art. Photography has had a long history of trouble in being considered an art, mainly because it shows things how they are without reinterpreting them.
It is also one of the most useful tools science has been relying on for decades and it has recorded our history for the past 150 years.
Our brains want to believe photographs, even though some of them are obvious fakes. In the past thirty years, technology has made it so easy to create fake images that it often takes an expert to point out the fraud.
With social media being a big part of our lives, it’s no wonder that many of these spectacular fakes go viral. They get shared and retweeted by millions of people, and some of them come back in cycles every few years, only to be revealed again.
I found a collection of 25 of these fake images put together in one video. I was always intrigued by how most of them made their “careers”, but I have to admit that two of them got me fooled and I’m no rookie. Some of them are humorous Photoshop attempts, but others have shocked public opinion and where believed to be true and dramatic. Take the famous picture of the guy standing on top of the World Trade Center with the plane apparently about to hit it. That photo shocked a lot of people until it was proved that it’s not real.
Besides the proof that photography can no longer be trusted as a mirror of reality, some of these photos are pointing out to a more serious problem. The fact that any average Joe with decent Photoshop skills can manipulate public opinion should be a concern. But then again, what can you do about it?
Here is the video made by list25. You might be in for a few surprises too.