One of the biggest challenges during TTG’s long development was identifying and codifying

the 9 Characteristics

that are shared by the most-widely trusted photographs in the free world.

Whenever viewers mistrust a photograph, it is always because they believe the photo is lacking one of these 9 characteristics:

1. The use of visible light to create
2. one undoctored record of
3. one view of
4. one scene during
5. one moment, culminating in
6. one fixed image that is presented
7. without misrepresentation and
8. without deception
9. from a source the viewer doesn’t mistrust

Those 39 words are the heart of TTG.

None of the 9 characteristics can be detected “just by looking” at a photograph.

It will always be easy to make photographs that have all 9 characteristics.

How TTG defines these 9 terms

The definitions of characteristics 1–9 are covered in FAQs #11–19.

Any photographer can personally define each of these characteristics any way they choose—

— but if they want their photograph to qualify for the TTG label, it must fully meet all 9 requirements as spelled out in the Trust Test (see for example question #1203).

TTG will never be obsolete

The 9 characteristics are not dependent on any particular technology, so TTG will never be obsolete.

Fancy new technologies will continue to come along for changing photographs after they are taken, especially — instantly — on smartphones.

But none of those technologies will help a photograph meet all 9 characteristics better than how they can be met — year in and year out — by a humble TTG photograph, always easily creatable with a basic camera or almost any other picture-taking device.