Fake photographs can change our memories

(Source: BBC)

Manipulation of photographs is nothing new. For as long as cameras have existed, photographers have staged, retouched and combined images and passed them off as 'real'. Sometimes for artistic purposes, sometimes for fun, but sometimes for more nefarious purposes.

This pic showing Senator John Kerry and Jane Fonda together at an anti-Vietnam War rally emerged during 2004’s US election. The meeting never happened. (Courtesy: Fourandsix.com)

Josef Stalin’s Soviet regime regularly retouched photos to remove those who had fallen out of favour, such as the unfortunate commissar on the right. (Courtesy: Fourandsix.com)

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had the horse handler removed from this picture in 1942 to make him appear more heroic. (Courtesy: Fourandsix.com)

In Yevgeny Khaldei‘s iconic shot of Soviet soldiers above a ruined Berlin, authorities removed a compass in case anyone thought it was a looted watch. (Courtesy: Fourandsix.com)

These images from Iraq in 2003 were merged for the Los Angeles Times by photographer Brian Walski to "improve the composition". He was later sacked. (Courtesy: Fourandsix.com)

The Beatles’ iconic Abbey Road album cover included Paul McCartney with a cigarette. In the 2000s, US poster companies removed the offending item. (Courtesy: Fourandsix.com)

Iran’s show of military might in 2008 was doctored to remove a launcher which failed to fire – and replaced with a fourth projectile. (Courtesy: Fourandsix.com)

American general Francis P. Blair (right) was added to Mathew Brady's famous photo of General Sherman’s retinue because he was not at the meeting. (Courtesy: Fourandsix.com)

After 2011’s Hurricane Irene, a photo of a shark swimming down a flooded Puerto Rican street hit the web. The shark was pasted in from a real encounter. (Courtesy: Fourandsix.com)