How to Fake a Giant Rat

Good to see a short photography lesson from The Guardian, How to fake a giant rat.  It’s perhaps a pity that they spoil it a little by continuing the title “(and why you shouldn’t trust pictures on the internet)”, as it isn’t really a story about the Internet, but something that illustrates a very basic fact of photography, and one which of course used to feature in photography courses long ago.

he article quotes news agency SWNS as correctly saying “clearly perspective plays a part in it”, and it goes on to comment that the image  was used by everyone “from Sky News to the Daily Mirror to the Evening Standard” without comment or bothering to check whether the rat was really four foot long.  These guys may be publishing on the Internet, but they are major media outlets and employ journalists. They even still employ a few photographers who could have advised them.  Had they asked, but it was a better story without the facts.

It isn’t really a story about the Internet. Or really about photography. But about journalistic standards and competency.

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