History Main / PlotBasedPhotographObfuscation

* The photo of Dante's mother, Eva, has her eyes perfectly [[LensFlare flared out]] in the first episode of the ''Anime/{{Devil May Cry|TheAnimatedSeries}}'' anime.

* The plot-important picture of ''Anime/PleaseTwins'' shows a little boy and girl playing in a small baby pool. Throughout the series, this is taken as the boy (Maiku) and his twin sister (either Karen or Miina). Unfortunately, the girl is holding an over-large hat on her head, hiding her hair, which could have indicated which girl [[CatchPhrase was the twin and which was the stranger]]. At the end, we find out that Karen is the twin and Miina is the stranger, but in a weird twist, the girl in the pool with Maiku really is [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend Miina]]. In another instance of this trope (which could have informed them that all three were close as kids), Karen was inside taking an afternoon nap and hence was absent from the picture altogether.

* The photograph of Fate and her mother in episode four of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha''. Interesting because the secret isn't what Precia looks like -- she's shown in episode seven -- but that she's smiling: the photo was taken before she went insane. Also, it's not really Fate in the photo, but her [[ParentalFavoritism sister]][=/=][[CloningBlues original]], although Fate has no clue.

* Marika of ''Manga/TwinSpica'' has a photograph of her and her father. The obfuscation is to hide that the age of her father doesn't match his current appearance, but the girl in the picture looks just like [[CloningBlues Marika]].

** A family portrait of the Elrics in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' has a well-positioned glass reflection that obfuscates the father. {{Subverted|Trope}}, however in that there's no plot point that it would reveal since his identity is revealed the first time his face is shown ever. Seeing the face would change nothing at all.[[note]]The only reason it was included was probably because the anime followed the manga relatively closely early on before diverging before the point where it became plot relevant in the manga.[[/note]]
** [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist The manga]](and Brotherhood Anime Adaption), on the other hand, has a picture pinned to a wall, with a separate photo covering the top part, including Hohenheim's face. Unlike the first anime, it has two good reasons to hide it: first, he's a ''dead ringer'' for the BigBad, Father, hinting at their shared past. Second? It's to hide the fact that despite the cheerful smiles of the others in the photo, he's ''crying''.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Harry finds a torn photo, and the missing half is accompanied by the reveal that Snape loved Lily, and had taken the other half because of his obsession/love for her and as a memento.

* Our first glimpse of Eri, Shiki's best friend in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', is a selfie of the two, with the unfamiliar face obscured by glare on the cell phone's screen. One wonders ''why'', until in a TomatoSurprise moment, Shiki is revealed to temporarily taking on Eri's appearance as her entry fee -- so it wasn't Eri's face that was hidden, but Shiki's.

* Early in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'', Toadbert gives you a drawing of the Shroob Princess and Princess Peach, with another part obscured by dirt. Much later in the game, you rub off the dirt, revealing another Shroob princess.
* During the prologue of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', Snake is given a photograph of himself, Miller, and an unknown soldier whose face is covered up by Snake's thumb. When you [[OnceMoreWithClarity replay the prologue]] at the end of the game, the soldier is revealed to be the custom character you created at the beginning of the game, followed by the reveal that you were playing as that character the whole time.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'', Lynne tells you about that one time when she was saved from a criminal who had taken her hostage 10 years ago by Detective Jowd. While she's remembering, we see an illustration of the event with young Lynne and the two men. We can see every face clearly... except the stranger's. His head is completely obfuscated by shadows. As it turns out later on, showing his face (or [[AnimeHair hair]]) earlier than that would've been a '''''major''''' plot twist: the criminal was Yomiel, a man who looks exactly like Sissel. Or more accurately, Sissel just took Yomiel's appearance when he woke up at 7 PM thinking that was his true appearance.
* In ''VideoGame/TheGunstringer'', the titular character's RoaringRampageOfRevenge is guided by a photograph of his traitorous old posse, which has been torn in half horizontally. During the epilogue the Gunstringer finds the missing upper half of the photo, revealing the identity of the last, previously-hidden posse member: ''you'', the player.

* ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'' episode three has a smashed photo frame where a face is conveniently covered by the cracks. Of course, the player is likely able to see who it is anyway from the body shape- John Garrideb's wife Joan, who poses as the family maid to give the Garridebs the appearance of being middle-class. And if not, it's revealed within minutes.

* In ''VisualNovel/CrossChannel'', you can sometimes see glimpses of the murder at the then-Shinkawa mansion. Upon closer inspection, you can see that Youko's knife had no blood on it.
* In ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'', if dating Kazuaki, he at one point drops a picture of someone with their face scribbled out. When confronted, he admits that it was someone he was very close to, who left him (strongly hinting they died), and he scratched out their face because he couldn't bear to remember them. In the Bad Boys Love route, we learn that the loved one he couldn't bear to remember was his foster-brother Nageki, who committed suicide five years prior to the plot, and who is also a potential love interest for the heroine. Seeing him in the photo would give away their shared backstory.
** Induces some FridgeLogic when you remember that the characters are birds, mostly of different breeds and species. Surely the heroine would be able to recognize Nageki's body, as she'd been surprised to meet that kind of bird in Japan in their first scene.
* A variant in ''VisualNovel/SepiaTears'': In the prologue, Mark encounters a girl whose hair ribbon has something written in it, but the writing is obscured. [[spoiler:The writing on the ribbon is later revealed to be "Don't cry", as the girl is actually Mark's crush who dumped him three years ago. It's also significant for another reason: Myra picked up the ribbon and wore it, which is the vital piece of information that Mark didn't remember.]]
* Several examples form the last clue to the identity of the Mastermind in the final trial of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', with four of the surviving students sharing a photograph given to them by Monokuma. Each photo shows what appears to have been a different snapshot of their school lives that they have absolutely no recollection of, with most of the original fifteen students present. The one conspicuously absent in each photo is the person who received it, but that's not the only thing... The Mastermind's face is obscured in each one somewhere in the background because the other students had their memories erased of what she actually looked like, while a mystery girl is also clearly visible up front in one of them. She turns out to be the sixteenth student, Mukuro Ikusaba. Mukuro is also the twin sister of the other student at the school who also claimed the title of Ultimate Despair as well as becoming the sole Mastermind behind the Despair after betraying her. It was Junko Enoshima.

* Happens by accident in part 1 of the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' two-part "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" Homer, hoping Mr. Burns [[AccidentalMisnaming doesn't forget him for once]], sends him a box of chocolates with a family portrait at the bottom. This trope comes into play when he and Smithers eat all but one of the chocolates, which happens to be the one obscuring Homer's face. Upon receiving the letter thanking everyone but Homer, Homer [[NotInFrontOfTheKid asks the kids to go upstairs]], goes outside, then lets out the loudest [[AtomicFBomb swear]] to be [[CurseCutShort cut short]].

* ''Franchise/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** A family portrait of the Elrics in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' has a well-positioned glass reflection that obfuscates the father. {{Subverted|Trope}}, however in that there's no plot point that it would reveal since his identity is revealed the first time his face is shown ever. Seeing the face would change nothing at all.[[note]]The only reason it was included was probably because the anime followed the manga relatively closely early on before diverging before the point where it became plot relevant in the manga.[[/note]]
** [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist The manga]](and Brotherhood Anime Adaption), on the other hand, has a picture pinned to a wall, with a separate photo covering the top part, including Hohenheim's face. Unlike the first anime, it has two good reasons to hide it: first, he's a ''dead ringer'' for the BigBad, Father, hinting at their shared past. Second? It's to hide the fact that despite the cheerful smiles of the others in the photo, he's ''crying''.

* Takahata-sensei's picture of himself, Negi, and an obscured man in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''. (Effectively subverted because the series ended prematurely with a contrived [[GrandFinale finale]] that abandoned almost all the existing plot threads.)
** Fortunately, the original manga ''is'' covering that.
* The photograph of Fate and her mother in episode four of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha''. Interesting because the secret isn't what Precia looks like -- she's shown in episode seven -- but that she's smiling: the photo was taken before she went insane. Also, it's not really Fate in the photo, but her [[ParentalFavoritism sister]][=/=][[CloningBlues original]], although Fate has no clue.
* A torn picture in ''Anime/TheBigO'' shows a young Gordon Rosewater shaking hands with an unknown person on the damaged side. Near the end of the series, he puts the missing part back into place. It's Roger Smith. (Who hasn't aged at all.)
* Every image of Yui Ikari throughout the first half or more of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', be it a physical photo or Shinji's memories of his mother, is obscured so that we cannot see her face. This is to help hide the fact that Rei is actually the clone of a younger Yui.
* In the first episode of ''Anime/{{K}}'', when HOMRA threatens the gangsters in the hotel, Kusanagi shows one of them a still of the murderer from the video on his phone, asking if it's someone they know, and it's obscured this way. This is before the main character Shiro is introduced. Later, we see that the murderer is Shiro - or at least looks a whole lot like him - causing him to have to prove his innocence while being chased by HOMRA and other superpowered groups.
* In ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'', Tamaki's mother is shown only in flashbacks, where she either has her skin and face blacked out, is seen only from the back, or has only the lower part of her face shown. Later, when we are shown a photo of her and Tamaki that had their faces blacked out in the flashback, Tamaki's face is clear but his mother's falls victim to a convenient lens flare. This is mainly because she had yet to be fully shown in the manga when the anime was made.
* A sub-plot in ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'' involved Godai constantly trying to find out what his love Kyoko's deceased first husband Soichiro looked like, only to be constantly thwarted by ripped, stained, coloured over and missing photos. In the end, he sees Kyoko's wedding photos and comments 'Wow, now I finally know what your husband looked like' - but the part of the photo showing Soichiro's face is kept off-panel.
* Early in ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', Domon goes around flashing a torn picture of a man and asking if people have seen him. Shortly into the series, we learn that the man is his older brother Kyoji, and the missing part of the picture shows the rest of the Kasshu family, with an adolescent Domon sitting on Kyoji's shoulders. This isn't really a spoiler so much as an indication of Domon's current attitude towards his brother.
* Renton's big sister is discussed and shown repeatedly throughout ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' but we are never shown her face until near the end of the series and it turns out there was really nothing important about her appearance.
* In one episode of ''[[OddlyNamedSequel (Zoku)]] Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'', Itoshiki plays the part of a detective and investigates the mansion's twelve female residents, one of whom was going to marry the murdered master of the house. There's a photo of the master hanging on the wall, but it's completely in shadow to the viewer. Later, when the girls attack Itoshiki, lightning flashes to show the photo and the fact that the master is Itoshiki's IdenticalStranger.

* ''Anime/ZoidsFuzors'' features a photograph of the "old" Mach Storm team; the face of RD's father is obscured in it. But then, ''every'' picture of his face is obscured. In a twist to the conventions of the genre, his identity is not important to the plot at all.
* In ''Literature/AllisonAndLillia'', the only photo Lillia has of her DisappearedDad is one where he moved during the exposure, so she has never seen his face. This is intentional, as otherwise, she would quickly recognize the man dating her mother as her own father with dyed hair.
* Marika of ''Manga/TwinSpica'' has a photograph of her and her father. The obfuscation is to hide that the age of her father doesn't match his current appearance, but the girl in the picture looks just like [[CloningBlues Marika]].

* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'': Later in the series, a few flashbacks show a photo of Syaoran with his parents, but the mom & dad's faces are obscured by the lens flare (somehow always perfectly placed, despite the lighting). Their faces are never shown in any other shots of them, either. But we know who they are, right, guys?
** The same applies to a pocket watch regarding Watanuki in ''Manga/{{xxxHolic}}''.
* The photo of Ranka and her older brother in ''Anime/MacrossFrontier''.

* Tomoya's mother Atsuko in ''VisualNovel/{{CLANNAD}}''.
* A recent manga chapter of ''Manga/Reborn2004'' has a photograph of Ryohei Sasagawa and some woman, obscured by unlikely glare.
** Earlier, a photo in Kurokawa's room had her and some man with an obscured face. Fans put two and two together and discovered KHR's first OfficialCouple.

* In ''[[VisualNovel/EfAFairyTaleOfTheTwo ef ~ a tale of melodies]]'', the ending sequence involving Mizuki has a photo with the faces obscured by a lens flare. Those people turn out to be Yuu, Yuuko, and Miki (her old self who was traumatized by the experience of her own parents trying to kill her), signifying how Yuu and Yuuko have transformed Miki into the current cheerful Mizuki.
* The picture of Kureha and her mother in ''Anime/YuriKumaArashi'' is part of a slightly bigger picture, the rest being bent behind it. They're holding hands with bear Ginko.

%% This is a zero-context example. Why is important for the plot? Please do not unhide until further context has been added.* The pictures of Kozue's parents in ''Manga/{{Mahoraba}}''.

* Used frequently during Mark Waid's classic '90s run writing ComicBook/{{The Flash}}. Waid was developing a grand {{myth arc}} involving the legacy and powers of the Flash being passed down over hundreds of years through many generations of the West family. It all started with Wally West (at the time the present-day Flash) who learned on a visit to the future that he would someday marry, father fraternal twins (one male, one female), and that his daughter was destined to one day become The Flash. Great lengths were taken to hide the identity of the mother, including several instances of family photos where the mother's face is obscured, usually by a shadow or glare.

* At one point, Wallace Wells shows a blurry photograph of Gideon Graves to ComicBook/ScottPilgrim, although this is meant more to hide Gideon's appearance from Scott himself.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

Sometimes, being able to see someone would enable the viewer to wrap up some important part of the show's mystery well beforehand. Commonly, a character will have a photograph of himself next to someone who is obscured by LensFlare, a deep shadow or some other obfuscation. In any event, you can be sure that, whoever the obscured person is, he's going to be important to the plot.