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[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_evilfilter.png]]]]
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->''Murder documentaries be like: "They were a happy family...Until they weren't!"''
--> [[https://img.ifunny.co/images/c231aee2b7050fe5cd8a67583eb9b05eebe7f9f7a1130ac6197587334359928b_1.jpg Meme that pokes fun at this trope]]

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.

You'll also hear a sound effect as the photo switches filters, like someone is throwing the giant "make negative" lever. Usually something like a giant clunk, followed by the sound of rusty nails on a blackboard.

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

See also DeliberatelyMonochrome, RedFilterOfDoom.

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!!Examples:
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[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* 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.
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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Mister Negative, a villain for ComicBook/SpiderMan, ComicBook/ThePunisher, and ComicBook/CloakAndDagger, sports this trope (though not as Martin Li).
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[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls1'', Sunset Shimmer's [[AttackOfThePoliticalAd attack ad]] meant to discredit Twilight Sparkle as a candidate for Princess of the Fall Formal features this over footage of Twilight's clumsy attempts to do research in the school library.
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[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Used for horror in film in ''Film/{{Ringu}}'', as it happens every time somebody dies by [[spoiler:a stare-down with Sadako]].
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[[folder:Literature]]
* 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, escalating to showing them shaking hands with Hitler and Darth Vader respectively.
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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* The History Channel lives, breathes, and eats this trope. ''Monster Quest'' has had a [[JawsFirstPersonPerspective reenacted first wild hog perspective attack or three]], where the post-production crew apparently felt little shame applying a desaturation filter and jarring piano chords. ''Ice Road Truckers'' even does this for accidents or ice cracks.
* A variant is the [[UsefulNotes/NewsNetworks Fox News Channel]] [[http://mediamatters.org/research/2008/07/02/fox-news-airs-altered-photos-of-ny-times-report/143921 showing obviously altered photos]] of New York Times reporters they accused of being "attack dogs".
* People that Creator/StephenColbert has decided are "destroying America" often get this treatment.
* 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.
* A popular variant on Australian tabloid television is to slow footage to ~6 frames/second.
* An early episode of ''Series/TheChasersWarOnEverything'' has the group lampshading and spoofing this trope by using the same technique on the Australian PM. HilarityEnsues.
* ''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.
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[[folder:Print Media]]
* Notorious example: ''TIME Magazine'' did the desaturation and edge burn bit on a photograph of UsefulNotes/OJSimpson, 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 [[https://www.monstersandcritics.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/oj-case-newsweek-time-1024x678.jpg 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.
* Martin Bryant, perpetrator of the Port Arthur Massacre, was represented in the media with a picture that had been digitally altered to look like an albino. One would think the fact he murdered 35 people would be enough to turn the public against him...
* 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]].
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* The UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} has this filter in the Photo Channel complete with a dramatic shock sound effect.
* ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyoChronicle'' has Rafisol, Ally's EvilTwin with an inverted color palette.
* ''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.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' uses a color negative filter when a character goes into Dying status.
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[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* 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.
* 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 [[LeaveNoSurvivors Genocide 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 [[https://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]].
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[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'':
** Used on Original Bubs in the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail [[Recap/StrongbadEmailE177Original "original"]], as Strong Bad describes the "bubbling pit of crude turmoil" lurking behind the scenes. It goes greyscale, too.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an episode of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople''. When Strong Bad sees part of a marathon of rockumentaries in "Baddest of the Bands", he observes "Uh-oh, they did that inverted negative photo thing; somebody's going to rehab."
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[[folder:Web Comics]]
* A minor EasterEgg from ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' features a wacky (mildly crude) sound clip of Creator/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!"]]]]
* Parodied by ''Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'' [[http://nonadventures.com/2008/09/06/electoral-dysfunction/ here]].
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[[folder:Web Original]]
* Website/TheOnion: The cheap trick of reversing the colors of a photo to make the subject look creepy is spoofed among many other examples of ManipulativeEditing in the manufactured satirical crime story "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apwjgE0n9fc Man Had Sex with Wife Thousands of Times Before Killing Her]]".
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has this in "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils" just before Luna shows Sweetie Belle the BadFuture.
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