It’s common sense that anyone would want to put their best foot forward on social media. After all, it’s pretty human to want to leave a good impression. However, some folks also don’t want to put in the work it takes to have whatever passes for a “perfect” body these days, so, instead, they resort to some less-than-plausible photo manipulation.
So take a stroll through the land of make-believe to see just what sort of edits netizens have tried to pass off as real images. Get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
#1 Yet Another Successful Organ Transplant! ⛑
Image credits: reddit.com
#2 I Hit The Gym And That Happened
Image credits: Pdf_3000
#3 Unbend-Agram
Image credits: deathbyshoeshoe
With filters, retouching software, and smart apps at everyone's fingertips, it's hard to know what's real on social-media images. But there are some telltale signs that make you an expert at sniffing out when someone has used too much of the digital editor's magic. By training your eye to notice lighting cues, texture discrepancies, geometry out-of-placeness, metadata anomalies, and contextual incoherence, you'll be a human lie detector scroll after scroll.
Natural light is governed by laws of physics: if the sun's on the left, highlights and shadows will be similarly on the left throughout the image. When you see a face or body radiantly lit against a background darker still, or shadows that cast in unlike directions, that's typically a sign someone selectively lit or composited two images together. A lit model might appear stuck over a nighttime cityscape with no light spill on surrounding objects corresponding, for instance.
#4 I Tried Xd
Image credits: reddit.com
#5 Out Here Looking Like Gumby’s Wife 👌🏻
Image credits: reddit.com
#6 I Wasn’t Sure If There’d Be A Whole Lot Of Coming Back From This But An Attempt Has Been Made!
Image credits: reddit.com
Slimming and body-shaping tools compress or stretch areas of an image, but will warp straight lines in the process. Lamp posts get subtly warped, door frames curve outward, and tile floors appear as if they're wobbling. Check edges parallel to the frame of the photo, walls, floors, tables, carefully and see if they're still straight. Any wiggle is a tip-off that the "liquify" or warp tool has been used on the subject.
#7 Wavy Elbow Issues
Image credits: midnightrider
#8 Breath In, Breath Out, Breath In, Breath Out
Image credits: Pdf_3000
#9 The Swell Tool Is A Hell Of A Thing
Image credits: jedijazmin
Clone-stamp and healing-brush tools enable you to cover up blemishes or unwanted items, but these have a tendency to drop in the same areas of texture as identical patches where they should be random. Scan for repeating items on textures of clothes, leaves, or skin surfaces, two identical shaped leaves, repeated stone patterns, or repeated freckles. If you notice one repeat, the entire cloned area normally becomes noticeable.
#10 Might Have Gone A Bit Too Far On The Edit, Markers Were Hard To Find On The Black Coat
Image credits: reddit.com
#11 Desnatch 101
Image credits: chelbierg
#12 Slightly More Human
Image credits: midnightrider
Untouched, raw skin has pores, minute hairs, and invisible color transitions. Zooming in on a doctored face, you might find a plastic-smooth surface without pores, loose hairs, and evenly-colored skin devoid of variation. But eyes or lips could be hyper-defined against a soft-focused background, i.e., selective sharpening or detail-enhancing filters were used. Authentic portraits are in balance with softness and texture; anything excessively idealized is a red flag.
#13 Posted An An Advert For A Photoshopping Service. Wtf???
Image credits: TheGirlOnTheCorner
#14 Now We Don't Have To Shoot The Horse
Image credits: midnightrider
#15 The Organ Transplant Was A Success!
Image credits: sweetsmall
Mirrors, sunglasses, water, and shiny floors should show the scene accurately. If you notice an empty mirror in the background of a character, a reflection that shows an alternate pose, or water that is not reflecting the person or surroundings, someone has likely gone in and touched up the image. The same applies to shadows on feet and objects, broken or misplaced shadows usually accompany cut-and-paste work.
#16 My Take On This Rather Infamous Image. Painted Over The Legs, Bobies Are More Of The Same Size Now, Put Her Organs Back, Not Sure What Else Is Missing
Image credits: reddit.com
#17 Successful Organ Transplant!!
Image credits: reddit.com
#18 Just A Wild Slenderwoman Roaming The Streets Of Seoul 🚶🏻♀️
Image credits: reddit.com
If you can retrieve the original image file, check its metadata (EXIF data) through a photo-previewing application or on-line EXIF viewer. Metadata may reveal what image-editing application was used, alter timestamps, and camera settings. A Photoshop stamp or a program name like "Facetune" in metadata is a give-away that the photo has been manipulated.
#19 I Did My Best
Image credits: reddit.com
#20 I Tried My Best But It Didn't Turn Out That Well
Image credits: Lilly_1337
#21 Fixed The Drapes
Image credits: midnightrider
Finally, look at the larger picture. Does the spot where the image was taken fit in with other photos of the same location? Do different entries from the same account have varying body proportions or background information? Reverse-image search sites such as Google Images or TinEye can assist you in discovering earlier unedited versions of a photograph or finding where it originally appeared online.
#22 From Drumstick To Thigh 🦵🏻
Image credits: reddit.com
#23 My, What Bendy Walls You’ve Got!
Image credits: reddit.com
#24 Way More Realistic
Image credits: Dead-eyed-doe
By keeping an eye out for these inconsistencies, lighting and shadow orientation, sheared geometry, replicated texture, unnatural skin tone, shattered reflections, color anomalies, metadata warning signs, and contextual mismatches, you'll be better poised to recognize the filters for what they are. And when you catch one doctored detail, you'll usually find a whole chain of fiddles under the surface, and that's when the real story behind the doctored post begins to emerge.
#25 I Fixed The Popeyes Forearms
Image credits: LayersOfMe
#26 ~ Bring Me The Horizon ~
Image credits: reddit.com
#27 Legs For Days vs. Legs For Minutes
Image credits: reddit.com
#28 Sorry Shakira, Those Hips Do Lie
Image credits: kp3377
#29 Un-Warped Reality
Image credits: deathbyshoeshoe
#30 Now She Can Breath
Image credits: Pdf_3000
#31 I Tried My Best
Image credits: reddit.com
#32 Vent Needed Some Help
Image credits: midnightrider
#33 Chin So Snatched It Has Its Own Gravitational Pull 👌🏻👌🏻
Image credits: reddit.com
#34 A Girl This Thin Shopping Herself Is Unbelievable. I Don't Understand
Image credits: midnightrider
#35 If One Of Your Shoes Is Twice The Width Of Both Your Calves Combined, You Might Have A Problem.🤷🏻♀️
Image credits: reddit.com
#36 Organs? Never Heard Of Them
Image credits: reddit.com
#37 First Post, How Did I Do?
Image credits: reddit.com
#38 Thought I’d Take A Crack At This One
Image credits: jedijazmin
#39 First Time I Try To Fix A Photo, I'm Not Great At It, But I Think I'm Getting Close
Image credits: idontloveanyone
#40 Is It Still Catfishing If It’s This Obvious?
Image credits: deathbyshoeshoe
#41 From Cute To Cuter 💕
Image credits: reddit.com
#42 I Didn't Even Know Where To Start. Best 5 Min Effort
Image credits: midnightrider
#43 Waist So Snatched It Has Its Own Gravitational Pull 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
Image credits: reddit.com
#44 ~ Bring Me The Horiiiizon ~
Image credits: reddit.com
#45 From Anime Girl To Human
Image credits: reddit.com
#46 Whoever Edited The Original Mspainted Her Stomach All One Color And Idk How To Draw Ribs Realistically LOL
Image credits: Dead-eyed-doe
#47 This One Made Me Sad Because She Enlarged Her Friend To Make Herself Seem Smaller
Image credits: midnightrider
#48 Subtle, But Deadly
Image credits: reddit.com
#49 “High Waist” Indeed
Image credits: reddit.com
#50 Fix By U/Ashthundercrow
Image credits: emmademontford
