I saw this picture shared on my Facebook timeline this morning. The claim is that a diver for a Newfoundland drilling company jumped in the water off the coast of The Rock and the conditions were soooo perfect that he was able to take this photo. You know what they say. If it looks too good to be real, it probably isn’t.

This post started out as a Facebook rant about people being gullible, but I decided to move it to my blog because I realized that this is not just about people believing every silly thing they see on their Facebook timeline, but also about how people consume photography.

If It Looks Too Good To Be Real

The really shocking thing about this photo? People believe it’s real. There are tons of comments such “So beautiful!”, “Amazing!”, “Breathtaking!” And all of those things are true. This is a very compelling image. But it is not real.

It would seem that many of us have lost our ability to think critically about what we see. Just think for a second. This was supposedly taken by a diver for a drilling company off the coast of Newfoundland, in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. The caption that goes along with the photo does state that conditions were ideal, and the sun was just right. Really? I’m sorry, but there are no weather conditions that could make the water of the North Atlantic this clear! Not to mention the fact that this diver just happened to also have an underwater camera capable of taking such a photo.

I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It

While this is a very cool photo, it is not real and was not taken by a diver. A quick Google search tells me that It is actually a composite photo created from the imagination of a photographer named Ralph Clevenger. And don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing at all wrong with that. Mr. Clevenger is clearly a talented artist and chose to manipulate an image to make this very cool piece (pardon the pun). The problem is that the people who consume this image don’t stop to think that it couldn’t possibly be real.

For years now I’ve struggled with this issue in photos that I see online as well as with my own photography. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen people post comments on a sunrise photo such as “I’ve never seen anything like this!”, “This looks like it’s from another planet!”,  “So surreal!”, or “Those colours are so unbelievable!” Well, there’s probably a reason you’ve never seen anything like it before, and why it looks so unbelievable.

Are You Being Manipulated?

I want to be very clear. I am not saying that it’s wrong to create composite photos, or edit photos in Photoshop, or manipulate photos in post production in anyway. Quite the opposite, I feel very strongly that post production is part of the artistic process and is a critical step in creating the finished piece in many circumstances. I have a lot to say on this topic and it will be the subject of it’s own post soon, so I’ll digress.

When you see a photo that has “unreal” colours, or is unlike anything you could imagine, there’s a pretty good chance it’s because the photographer has manipulated the photo. That could mean anything from applying an Instagram filter to compositing multiple images together, very extensive work in Photoshop, or even the processing done in camera (yes, your camera manipulates your pictures too). To make the final image, it’s really about finding a way to show an audience how the scene was interpreted and viewed by the photographer. That is our struggle.

Enjoy The Art

So next time you see a photo on your Facebook timeline that catches your eye. Enjoy it. Consume it. Share it. But also think about what you’re seeing and understand that the reason you have probably never seen anything quite like it before, is because you’re seeing it through the eyes of the artist. What you’re really looking at is their vision and interpretation of a photo, which may or may not mirror reality.

Oh, and don’t be so gullible.