This is a lesson in photographic history, to be more precise, in editing photos, a practice that has been used a lot over time. For different reasons, either political or to impress the masses, this procedure was applied since the appearance of photography. Let’s take a look at 16 impressive examples of famous photo editing.
Stalin, 1930
Stalin made a habit in removing his enemies from photos. In this case, he removed a commissioner from the original photo, after Stalin had some problems with him.
Benito Mussolini, 1942
To create a more heroic portrait, Benito Mussolini removed the person that took care of the horse from the photo.
USA Hockey Olympic Team – 1960
In 1960 the USA Hockey Olympic team has beat the team of the Soviet Union, winning the first Olympic hockey medal. The official photo of the team was edited to include the faces of Bill Cleary, Bob Cleary, John Mayasich, people that weren’t present when the photo was taken.
Casto, 1968
In 1968, Fidel Castro approved the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, when Carlos Franqui stopped any relationship with the regime, being exiled in Italy. His image was removed from the photo. Here’s the original photo.
German Chancellor, September 1971
The photo was taken at the meeting between the Chancellor of Western Germany, Willy Brandt and Leonic Brezhnev, First Secretary of the Communist Party. The two drank and smoked, in a friendly atmosphere. The german media published a photo that shows the champagne bottles on the table, unlike the soviet media which apparently removed the bottles from the original photo.
Oprah Winfrey, August 1989
Oprah appeared on the cover of TV Guide, however only partially, the photo was created by putting Oprah’s head on the body of actress Ann Margaret. The photo editing was created without the approval of the two women, and it was detected by the designer of the actress, who recognized the dress.
Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, February 1994
The image that appeared on the cover of New York Newsday, faces the two rivals training together, the paper saying that that two skaters are working together.
Hatsepsut, Egypt, Terrorist Attack, November 1997.
After 58 tourists were killed in a terrorist attack at the Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt, the Blick Swiss tabloid modified water in the photo to look like blood that leaks from the temple.
Wisconsin University, September 2000
To illustrate the variety of the nationalities of the students of the university, they have modified a photo on a brochure by including a black male.
British Soldier, April 2003
The image of the British soldier in Basra appeared on the first page of the Los Angeles Time shortly after USA invaded Iraq. The photographer that modified the picture was fired because he used other photos of his to improve the photo.
George W. Bush, March 2004
Political message for the George W. Bush election campaign, facing a sea of soldiers. The image was modified to remove Bush from the initial photo, by copying some soldiers over his stage.
Capital of Lebanon after a raid in August 2006
The initial image was edited to show a bigger quantity of smoke, much darker.
Nicolas Sarkozy, August 2007
The french magazine Paris Match modified the photo of the president by removing some of the his body fat, under the pretext that they have tried to improve the luminosity of the photo.
Iranian missile launch test, June 2008
The photo appeared in many important newspaper, showing a rocket that was never launched. You can also see the original photo below:
Hungarian Tourist, September 2001
One of the most weirdest edited photos. It shows Guzil on the cover of World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when one of the hi jacked planes was closing in.
President Abraham Lincoln, 1860
This portrait is actually two images. To be more precise, the head is taken from Lincoln and the body belongs to Southern Politician, John Calhoun.
