History Main / PhotoshopFilterOfEvil

* A variant is the Creator/FoxNewsChannel [[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".

* 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 [[http://blogcritics.org/ojs-last-run-a-tale-of/ 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.

** ''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]];

[[folder:Advertising]]
* Many [[AttackOfThePoliticalAd political advertisements]] make extensive use of this trope, often through using an unflattering photo of the candidate being targeted on a particular issue or by a particular campaign. Many times, the photo will be hazy or, while zooming in, will appear grainy to the viewer. Other times, the photo will be cropped from a video, frozen at a particular frame to make the candidate look physically bad.
[[/folder]]

->''"Just listen to the music, Marge! He's evil!"''
-->-- '''Homer Simpson''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* 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.

[[quoteright:224:[[Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/photoshopfilterofevil.png]]]]

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

* 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 EvilAlbino. One would think the fact he murdered 35 people would be enough to turn the public against him...

[[RealityIsUnrealistic Something very close to this]] [[TruthInTelevision actually 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.

* Many political advertisements make extensive use of this trope, often through using an unflattering photo of the candidate being targeted on a particular issue or by a particular campaign. Many times, the photo will be hazy or, while zooming in, will appear grainy to the viewer. Other times, the photo will be cropped from a video, frozen at a particular frame to make the candidate look physically bad.

!!Detailed Examples:

* 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.
* 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 [[http://blogcritics.org/ojs-last-run-a-tale-of/ 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.
** A variant is the Creator/FoxNewsChannel [[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".
* 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 EvilAlbino. One would think the fact he murdered 35 people would be enough to turn the public against him...
* 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.
* 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 UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} has this filter in the Photo Channel complete with a dramatic shock sound effect.

* ''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."
* 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!"]]]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls2013'', 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.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has this in "For Whom The Sweetie Belle Toils" just before Luna shows Sweetie Belle the BadFuture.
* Parodied by ''Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella'' [[http://nonadventures.com/2008/09/06/electoral-dysfunction/ here]].
* 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.
* ''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.
* Used for horror in film in ''Film/{{Ringu}}'', as it happens every time somebody dies by [[spoiler:a stare-down with Sadako]].

* 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]]".

** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an episode of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople''. When Strong Bad is watching a marathon of rockumentaries in "Baddest of the Bands", he stated "Uh-oh, they did 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 UsefuflNotes/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 [[http://blogcritics.org/ojs-last-run-a-tale-of/ 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.

* 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/ojs-last-run-a-tale-of/ 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.

* Used for horror in film in ''[[TheRing Ringu]]'', as it happens every time somebody dies by [[spoiler:a stare-down with Sadako]].

** Used on Original Bubs in the WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail [[Recap/StrongbadEmailE177Original "original"]]. It goes greyscale, too.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in an episode of ''VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople'', when Strong Bad is watching a marathon of rockumentaries, he stated "Uh-oh, they did that inverted negative photo thing; somebody's going to rehab."

* Used on Original Bubs in ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'', in the sbemail [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail177.html original]]. It goes greyscale, too.

* Website/TheOnion: This cheap trick is spoofed among many other examples of ManipulativeEditing in the manufactured satirical crime story "[[http://www.theonion.com/video/crime-reporter-man-had-sex-with-wife-thousands-of--14395 Man Had Sex With Wife Thousands Of Times Before Killing Her]]".

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'', 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.