Phony, heavily edited and doctored photographs take the attention away from the true beauty of nature and create a ‘reality’ that is impossible to live up to
I was scrolling recently through social media in mindless fashion, giving a chuckle, an eyebrow raise and a mundane reaction to the various posts that flowed down my stream. Then, I saw a photo I just couldn’t take my eyes off of.
It was of Niagara Falls, but something about it seemed too good to be true. Ironically, I couldn’t provide the photo because someone technically owned it. But was it actually their own “photo” to begin with?
We can all agree that the the world famous waterfall is indisputably worthy of its top tourism status. As a local, I can tell you that in every season and every type of weather, the mighty Niagara Falls delivers an authentic and awe-inspiring experience.
I have visited it in the middle of the peak summer crowds, during fall colours, ice storms, the dead of winter, the middle of the night, and when it is bathed in fog. To personify it all, Niagara Falls is one of those people who could try on any outfit and still look outstanding.
However, what if the outfit doesn’t actually exist at all? Yet, many believe it does based on what they see online.
I recently saw the aforementioned photo posted by the photographer, and it had garnered over 2,200 “reactions”. In other words, at least 2,200 people engaged with the post, and at the very least, thousands more must have seen it. What makes these numbers ridiculous is that they demonstrate how a fake and heavily modified photo can rise to the top of the algorithm food chain.
What are the problems with this scenario? Let me try to describe it.
Regarding those modifications, my main geeky gripe is that there are several geographically wrong aspects about this “photo”.
Sure, the deep red layered sky in the southeast is probable and realistic, but the Hornblower boat tour seen in the photo doesn’t ride at 6:00 AM – the time where this type of morning sky would be observed. And then, there’s a rainbow. Rainbows exist nearly every day during Niagara Falls’ misty spectacle. However, rainbows require direct sunlight passing through air droplets, so where is the direct sunlight coming from? Is it coming from behind the clouds from an impossibly wrong direction? Or, is it coming from a strange, powerful light that somehow lights up the gorge? This is where it gets even better – I wasn’t aware that an intense bright light was projected down the middle of the river bottom – at 6:00 AM.
Secondly, this heavily edited photo is an insult to talented photographers, tourism operators and small business owners in the area. Surely, the most photographed waterfall in the world has plenty of free-use photos, licensed photos and somewhere in between. The digital bath of media ownership is remarkably muddy nowadays. Hence, why I hesitated and ultimately decided to not share the altered photo in this article.
Lastly, there is a bigger concern about this photo and the trend it represents.
The photo of an area that is fully capable of surreal natural beauty gets taken advantage of for someone else’s profit and gain. The sheer viewer statistics of this post alone showcase that a concerning portion of the population is gullible to AI and advanced media editing. They simply see an incredibly and impossibly beautiful photo. This concern doesn’t come from a place of insult, but rather, seeing people who believe this as victims of trickery. The illusion of what is totally real and totally not is becoming more blurred, day by day. This is a form of modern disinformation that is allowed to run wild because its impacts aren’t yet immediately clear.
Also, I’m not sure if it’s because AI fascinates me or because I love wildlife, but my social media algorithm shows me these “videos” of animals in bizarre and disturbing situations. I remember seeing an AI video of giant backhoes moving and squishing unrealistically huge anacondas in a pond. Video comments decried things such as “Leave them alone!”, or “Oh my God those things are huge!” I suppose there is one glimmer of hope in this in that at least we still have some compassion. But we don’t even know if the target of our sentiment is real or not. I
have also seen a zebra being eaten by a giant lizard in the middle of a farm field while local villagers, who are clearly AI’s interpretation of Asian descent, poke and prod at the thrashing animals with farm tools. There are no zebras in Asia, and there are no giant lizards that eat zebras. Yet, the thousands of views and types of comments implied that many people thought it was real.
Another example I came across was a picture of a hunter standing way too casually beside a live moose in the wild. This scenario simply doesn’t happen without an actual moose either fleeing from or totally mauling the human. The photo was shared widely and was met with “Wow” and “Happy” emotion responses. People were blown away by this “photo” with blurry edged antlers and a situation that looks too remarkable to be true. No pushback, no questioning, and lots of shares.
Sure, animals trying to eat each other in foreign lands and photos with moose are harmless, right? The excessive modification of what Niagara Falls actually looks like isn’t too big of a deal, surely? I disagree.
It’s fun enough and innocent enough for now, but with every passing day, there are simply more people who believe what they see because of the high-quality deceptiveness.
Regarding tourism for Niagara Falls, this can lead to let-downs and underwhelming visits to those seeking the ultimate aesthetic utopia. Additionally, a fake photo like that steals attention from small businesses and authentically talented photographers. In regards to strange animals being handled by machinery or duking it out in places they don’t exist, I must ask – would we be okay with our kids believing that we have monkeys and sharks living in Ontario?
As for the man standing next to the moose. Well, good luck with that one in real life – and someone might actually foolishly try it out.
