History Main / PhotoshopFilterOfEvil

* Parodied in ''Creator/DaveBarry Hits Below the Beltway'', where two political candidates running against each other each show their opponent in hideous and increasingly libelous grainy black-and-white photographs.

* The {{Wii}} has this filter in the Photo Channel complete with a dramatic shock sound effect.

* A minor EasterEgg from ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' features a wacky (mildly crude) sound clip of NicolasCage from ''Film/SnakeEyes'' with transformations making it into something a bit... disturbing. The visual accompaniment uses an effect much like this, except it's not a photonegative (rather, the image's color is distorted and JPEG artifacts become exaggerated). [[spoiler:[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=darkcage "boner!"]]]]

* ''{{Resident Evil 5}}'' uses a color negative filter when a character goes into Dying status.

Photoshop Filter Of Evil is a trope about when a news program and/or documentary shows a photo of a criminal/victim in color, then shows a eerie black and white/negative of the photo to emphasize something malevolent about the person. Often combined with a [[TheKenBurnsEffect slow zoom]] on the subject's now-black eyes, just to spotlight the creepiness.

* Parodied in ''DaveBarry Hits Below the Beltway'', where two political candidates running against each other each show their opponent in hideous and increasingly libelous grainy black-and-white photographs.

** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an episode of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'', when Strong Bad is watching a marathon of rockumentaries, he stated "Uh-oh, they're using that inverted negative photo thing; somebody's going to rehab."

* Notorious example: ''TIME Magazine'' did the desaturation and edge burn bit on a photograph of O.J. Simpson, in addition to resizing and moving the man's prisoner [=ID=] number. The resulting image made O.J. Simpson's [[UnfortunateImplications skin appear darker]] and gave a heavy vignette. The manipulation became extremely obvious when Newsweek used the same photo with accurate color, resulting in a [[http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/31/012306.php side-by-side comparison]] when the two magazines were displayed together at newsstands. This was met with significant outcry. ''TIME'' would eventually issue an apology for the cover.

See also DeliberatelyMonochrome.

** A variant is the Creator/FoxNewsChannel [[http://mediamatters.org/items/200807020002 showing obviously altered photos]] of New York Times reporters they accused of being "attack dogs".

[[RealityIsUnrealistic Something very close to this]] [[TruthInTelevision actually happens in real life]], as anyone who has had the lights suddenly go out on themm can attest; the latent image on the retina tends to be chroma-inverted due to "bleaching" of the rod cells.

* A minor EasterEgg from ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'' features a wacky (mildly crude) sound clip of NicolasCage from ''SnakeEyes'' with transformations making it into something a bit... disturbing. The visual accompaniment uses an effect much like this, except it's not a photonegative (rather, the image's color is distorted and JPEG artifacts become exaggerated). [[spoiler:[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=darkcage "boner!"]]]]

* An early episode of ''TheChaser's War On Everything'' has the group lampshading and spoofing this trope by using the same technique on the Australian PM. HilarityEnsues.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an episode of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'', when Strong Bad is watching a marathon of rockumentaries, he stated "Uh-oh, they're using that negative photo effect; somebody's going to rehab."

* A minor EasterEgg from ''{{Homestuck}}'' features a wacky (mildly crude) sound clip of NicolasCage from ''SnakeEyes'' with transformations making it into something a bit... disturbing. The visual accompaniment uses an effect much like this, except it's not a photonegative (rather, the image's color is distorted and JPEG artifacts become exaggerated). [[spoiler:[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=darkcage "boner!"]]]]

* Parodied by ''TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'' [[http://nonadventures.com/2008/09/06/electoral-dysfunction/ here]].

* Elizabeth Short, ''The Black Dahlia'', has this done to her photo quite often on documentaries. It's usually meant to add chilling eeriness, emphasizing the way she was gruesomely murdered and severed. It's not applied to the actual crime scene photos, mind you, but her vanity head shot.

* In ''VisualNovel/PlumbersDontWearTies'', the developers apparently just got Photoshop and were playing with it while making the game. The result: Tons of filtered photos in ridiculously random places.
* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an episode of VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople, when Strong Bad is watching a marathon of rockumentaries, he stated "Uh-oh, they're using that negative photo effect; somebody's going to rehab."
* Parodied in ''DaveBarry Hits Below the Beltway'', where two political candidates running against each other each show their opponent in hideous and increasingly libelous grainy black-and-white photographs.
* An early episode of ''TheChaser's War On Everything'' has the group lampshading and spoofing this trope by using the same technique on the Australian PM. HilarityEnsues.

* Parodied by ''TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'' [[http://nonadventures.com/2008/09/06/electoral-dysfunction/ here]].
* Used on Original Bubs in ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', in the sbemail [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail177.html original]]. It goes greyscale, too.
* Used for horror in film in ''[[TheRing Ringu]]'', as it happens every time somebody dies by [[spoiler:a stare-down with Sadako.]]
* The method is OlderThanTelevision, though was used not as a trope, but as a prank. R.W.Wood once asked a young lady to pose for a photo to be printed in Encyclopædia Brittanica article he was writing. She was flattered, but had no idea he's ''the'' trailblazer of IR and UV photography, the article is about fluorescence, and her photo is going to look [[http://www.eskimo.com/~nickz/uv/img/UVlensFluorescence.jpg like this]].

* The ''VisualNovel/{{Yarudora}}'' series uses this trope a few times in several of its games.
** ''VisualNovel/DoubleCast'', the 1st game, uses it during a sequence of the [[KillThemAll Genocide]] [[BadEnd Route]], when [[spoiler: the protagonist and Haruka discover [[BloodIsSquickerInWater Shoko's body in her bathtub]], and confirm, to their horror, her death]];
** ''VisualNovel/{{Sampaguita}}'', the 3rd game, uses it on two occasions:
*** On the game's [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sampaguita_cover_1118.png box cover]], although it's done to symbolize the mystery behind Maria and her memories, as she's not evil.
*** And during the game, when [[spoiler: the protagonist [[TheHeroDies gets fatally shot]] [[TakingTheBullet while protecting his lover Maria with his body]], in Good End 3 and Normal End 2]].
* The DVD release of the ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' anime used this effect on the cover art to emphasize that this is a dark, violent show. The sleeves are reversible so that you can display the cute, colorful artwork from the original Japanese release if you want.
* ''Series/TenOClockLive'' often mock the papers doing this. Like having cleric Abu Qatada depicted as some sort of nuclear cloud or having UsefulNotes/NickClegg as an amoeba.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' has the entire screen pause and go to photonegative when faced with a Live Selection: where you're given two options to deal with an impending threat. Played most straight with the [[ImplacableMan titular Nemesis']] first appearance after it murders Brad right in front of you.
* ''{{Resident Evil 5}}'' uses a color negative filter when a character goes into Dying status.

** A variant is the FoxNewsChannel [[http://mediamatters.org/items/200807020002 showing obviously altered photos]] of New York Times reporters they accused of being "attack dogs".

* People that StephenColbert has decided are "destroying America" often get this treatment.

[[quoteright:198:[[TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wonderella-filter.png]]]]

* The ADV release of the ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'' anime used this effect on the cover art to emphasize that this is a dark, violent show. The DVD sleeves are reversible so that you can display the cute, colorful artwork from the original Japanese release if you want.
* ''Series/TenOClockLive'' often mock the papers doing this. Like having cleric Abu Qatada depicted as some sort of nuclear cloud or having NickClegg as an amoeba.

* The {{Wii}} has this filter in the Photo Channel.

* A minor EasterEgg from ''{{Homestuck}}'' features a wacky (mildly crude) sound clip of NicCage from ''SnakeEyes'' with transformations making it into something a bit... disturbing. The visual accompaniment uses an effect much like this, except it's not a photonegative (rather, the image's color is distorted and JPEG artifacts become exaggerated). [[spoiler:[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=darkcage "boner!"]]]]

* The method is OlderThanRadio, though was used not as a trope, but as a prank. R.W.Wood once asked a young lady to pose for a photo to be printed in Encyclopædia Brittanica article he was writing. She was flattered, but had no idea he's ''the'' trailblazer of IR and UV photography, the article is about fluorescence, and her photo is going to look [[http://www.eskimo.com/~nickz/uv/img/UVlensFluorescence.jpg like this]].

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* LawAndOrder openings have this.