Most of us rely on the media to give us information on what is happening in places far away from us. And most of the time, we don’t have time to read the entire article and rely on the photos to give us the details.

But what if those photos have been altered so the media can give us a different story?

Unfortunately, with the influx of Photoshop and a lot of other editing software, it has become easier to change the intent of a photo with a simple click.

Do you want to know how? Here are ten examples.

When The Truth Becomes Irrelevant

The news reported that the reason this restaurant closed was because of negative reviews from millennials. Technically, yes, it’s true but the news station failed to report that millennials didn’t want to support this business because he was previously arrested for prostitution. And when a concerned citizen mentioned this, the news station said that information was irrelevant to the story.

Same Cover, Different Style

It’s clearly the same photo but they were both edited to look differently. Magazines have been manipulating photos for a long time now so they can sell their magazines. Sometimes they get so carried away that the photoshopped photo is so different from the original picture.

Recycled Photos

Sometimes, newspapers can’t afford to send their own photographers to the scene of the story so they buy photos from the photographers who were there. These two photos seem different except for the subject. One is the original and the other one has been photoshopped to look like it’s in a different location.

Added Details

The original photo is on the left. The photographer doesn’t think there’s enough drama to the photo so he edited it. He added more black smoke and made it even darker. It worked, right?

Campaign Photos

Taking photos from different positions inside the venue tell different stories. The first photo makes the campaign look so impressive. The second photo, not so much, huh?

Two Photos Combined

If you’ll see in this set of photos, there are two different photos, the top, and middle. They’ve been edited to tell a different story in the third and bottom photo.

Saturated Photo

Technically, this photo wasn’t altered. But the saturation levels were altered in the photo below to tell a different story.

It’s About Angles

As long as you’re taking the photo from the right angle, it will show you different sides. A close shot of Mike Pence makes it look like he’s waving to a big crowd. The second photo, from a further angle, shows there is no crowd.

For Marketing

This photo is different. It wasn’t altered to tell a different story. It was edited to remove a poster from their competitor that was prominently displayed in the photo.

What You See Doesn’t Tell The True Story

With the right angle and the right props, you can make a photo and location different from what it really is. On TV, this looks like it was shot from inside a TV studio. And from the photo, we can clearly see it’s not.

These photos show that we shouldn’t always take everything at face value.

Yes, there are some photographers, journalists, and publications who still take the news seriously and would not edit a photo to sell. Some do stay true to the story.

But it can be hard to tell who is telling the story.

We always need to ask more questions, read more news, and be more aware of what’s happening around us.

If you want to learn more about the effects of these manipulated photos on the public, watch the video below.

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Source: PBS NewsHour