What kind of photographs are people most likely to trust?

The answer is surprisingly simple:

If viewers know (or think they know) how the image they’re seeing was made, then...

1. Viewers are more likely to trust photographs that depict only what the camera lens saw at the moment the picture was taken...

2. . . than they are to trust images that depict anything that the camera did not see at the moment the picture was taken.

Since TTG is all about “trust,”

TTG celebrates the #1 kind of photograph—

— even though the #2 images dominate large parts of our culture.

Note that it is easy to deceptively present “what the camera lens saw,” for example when zoo animals are implied to be wild, or staged scenes are implied to be spontaneous. That’s why there’s P8.

Further reading

• Why do viewers trust #1 photos more than #2 photos?

• What does this mean for photographers in the real world?

• What about exact simulations of what the camera could have seen?

• What is TTG’s definition of “trust”?

• What is meant by “the undoctored record of what the camera lens saw”?

• What about photos that are not doctored but are deceptive?

• What about photos that are not deceptive but are doctored?