Photos of People Taken from Different Perspectives Reveal How Media Can Easily Manipulate Reality

• Can you really trust the photos you see on the internet?
• Two photographers revealed that different perspectives can make people appear to be closer to each other than they truly are.
• The revelation is an important one in line with social distancing rules in public.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused people to adopt new rules whenever they need to leave the house. This includes having to maintain distance from each other to avoid the spread of the disease. Unfortunately, there have been several photos taken in public that seem to show people are not practicing social distancing. On the other hand, some photographers have confirmed that some of these images do not exactly reveal the whole truth.

Photographers Ólafur Steinar Gestsson and Philip Davali decided to conduct an experiment for photo agency Ritzau Scanpix. In their experiment, the Copenhagen-based photographers took photos of the same people who were enjoying a day outdoors. One of them used a telephoto lens while the other opted for a wide angle. The results revealed that perspective can be forced by the media depending on which images they use.

Here’s what a telephoto lens took

But this is what it looks like from a wide angle perspective

Ritzau Scanpix editorial manager Kristian Djurhuus explained why he appointed Gestsson and Davali with the experiment.

“The proximity of people has widely been debated in Denmark in the past weeks. Danish politicians and authorities have frequently referred to images which they believed to show members of the public behaving in disagreement with the general guidelines,” Djurhuus said.

These people may look like they are sitting too close from a telephoto lens

But they appear to be practicing social distancing through a wide angle lens

Not surprisingly, Djurhuus is aware of how the photos can be misread at this time when COVID-19 is making social distancing necessary.

“As producers of photography, we have a responsibility to draw attention to the fact that images in some cases does not show the proximity of objects as people seem to believe,” he pointed out.

Everyone seems to be sitting to close to each other

But the other group is actually several feet away

It is best to remember that social distancing must be practiced whenever you are in public. This way, you can avoid possible COVID-19 infection.