Subscription Center
June 2, 2008 | 19
This nearly iconic portrait of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is a composite of Lincoln's head and the body of Southern politician, John Calhoun. Putting the date of this photo into context, note that the first permanent photographic image was created in 1826 and the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company (later to become Eastman Kodak) was created in 1884....[More]
In this photo by famed photographer Mathew Brady, General William Tecumseh Sherman is seen posing with his generals. General Francis P. Blair [ far right ] was added to the original photograph....[More]
In this doctored photograph, Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong [ first from the right ] had Po Ku [ first from the left ] removed from the original photograph, after Po Ku fell out of favor with Mao....[More]
In this doctored Nazi photograph, Adolf Hitler had Joseph Goebbels [ second from right ] removed from the original photograph. It remains unclear why Goebbels had fallen out of favor with Hitler....[More]
When in the summer of 1968 communist leader Fidel Castro [ right ] approved of the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, Cuban writer and political activist Carlos Franqui [ middle ] cut off relations with the regime and went into exile in Italy....[More]
The chancellor of West Germany, Willy Brandt [ far left ], meets with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev [ far right ], first secretary of the Communist Party. The two smoke and drink, and it is reported that the atmosphere is cordial—and also that they are drunk....[More]
In the People's Republic of China, the so called "Gang of Four" were removed from this original photograph of a memorial ceremony for Mao Zedong held at Beijing's Tiananmen Square after they had fallen out of favor with the regime....[More]
After 58 tourists were killed in a terrorist attack at the temple of the pharaoh Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt, the Swiss tabloid Blick digitally altered a puddle of water to appear as blood flowing from the temple....[More]
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
Pesticides Spark Broad Biodiversity Loss
Dog Genetics Spur Scientific Spat
30 under 30: Fueling Industry with Sunlight--and Science with Collaboration
Astronomers Search for Signs of Life in the Skies of Distant Exoplanets
The Global Citizens of Scientific American
Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet [Excerpt Part One]
Eye-Tracking Software May Reveal Autism and other Brain Disorders
Will You or the Grid Control Your Electric Car?
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
19 Comments
Add CommentThis is great stuff! I've long known that despotic regimes have used photography to deceive their populations, but I didn't know how widespread the tactics were till now. Lends new meaning to the "seeing is believing" slogan.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't believe the before and after photos for the third set (Stalin) are the same photos. The background is not the same and I believe the man with the hat behind and to the left of Stalin is in a slightly different pose in the two photos (look at the position of his head). In addition, the commissar that was supposedly airbrushed out looks actually as if he was added in. His pose seems unnatural and he does not have the same depth as Stalin. It also looks to me as if the sun angle on Stalin is not the same as the commissar; Stalin's face is much more shaded.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlthough not technically of the same kind of doctoring, it is known that all regimes build myth by falsifying photographs. Check in American history for example: the 4 Marines putting the flag on top of that hill is a mise en scène :-)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this--
Edited by vinnie2k at 06/03/2008 12:00 AM
Not only despotic regimes ;-)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe last one is interesting, even the Swiss do such nonsense.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisImage # 8, the missing bottles, is not the same photo. Look at the facial expressions and head orientations. It is possible that the bottles were physically removed before the another photo was taken.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRegarding Image #5 -- Goebbels never really "fell out of favor" with Hitler. I think he was deleted from the picture because the woman he's standing next to in the picture is not his wife, but rather Czech actress Lida Baarová. Goebbels was engaged in an extramarital affair with her at the time, but later broke it off at Hitler's insistance to avoid a public scandal.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is excellent proof of the sentence: "History is written by the winners"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDr. J. Semo
Interesting lack of examples from the '06 Lebanese conflict.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo, we Americans didn't doctor any photographs beyond the Civil War for political reasons ? Only Nazis, Commies, and whoever we don't like at the moment ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this#8 does not appear tampered with. they are different pictures which look to be taken at two different times... Also, the images in #2 seem to be taken at a slightly different angles, and there are many other very subtle differences between the two photos, such as expressions on faces. This article is a on a fascinating topic, but extremely poorly done.... no sources, no explainations or details regarding how the photos were doctored, and what methods of forensics were used to arrive at the conclusions. I certainly would expect much better from Scientific American...like some science, for instance.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy favorite is the altered satellite photos George Bush Sr. gave to the Saudi King showing fake Iraqi military buildup on the Saudi border, to scare the hell out of the King/dictator so he would let the US use Saudi Air bases during Gulf War I. I'll bet the unaltered satellite photos of the areas involved on 9/11 would reveal some interesting facts also.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEscaapeFromBushistan, Ara Kotchian... it's called Scientific AMERICAN... do not expect a publication like this to offer anything other than the correct line ideology.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGoebells and Stalin would be proud of the etent to which their maxims have been absorbed by the NeoTrots...
Cheerio
GT
France
EscaapeFromBushistan, Ara Kotchian... it's called Scientific AMERICAN... do not expect a publication like this to offer anything other than the correct line ideology.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGoebells and Stalin would be proud of the extent to which their maxims have been absorbed by the NeoTrots...
Cheerio
GT
France
I appears to me, user of PhotoShop, that the lower picture is the modified one.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe neat background, the face of Brandt, the bottles facing the reader and the neat arrangement of items on the table indicate this is the false image.
Thank God you're in France. Please stay there.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI found interesting that the study only shows photos from the "evil" ones. As somebody said before, Americans NEVER make fake photos? The article seems a little chauvinistic and tendentious to me. Good examples anyways.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI found interesting that the study only shows photos from the "evil" ones. As somebody said before, Americans only make fake photos to show Lincoln? The article seems a little chauvinistic and tendentious to me. Good examples anyways.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have two photographs which have definitely been tampered with. A name tag seems to be blocked out as well as an extra A been added in both the pictures. Can the name tag be identified at all?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this