TTG Plus > FAQs > More on FAQ #313


On the 9 characteristics of trusted photographs

  • TTG’s 9 characteristics reflect what viewers want to know

    Viewers’ level of trust in a photograph depends on their confidence in their ability to “read” the photograph.

    • That confidence is rooted in their knowledge of how single-exposure, undoctored photographs “work.”

    • Thanks to their “photographic literacy,” viewers in the 21st century are usually confident in their ability to “read” most photographs that they know — or believe — have all nine characteristics.

    • TTG is actually based on this reality; see “A” here.

  • What happens when a photo doesn’t have all 9 characteristics?

    When viewers know — or merely suspect — that one or more of those nine characteristics is missing from any image that looks like a photograph, they lose confidence in their ability to apply their knowledge of how photographs “work.”

    In other words, their mental tools are no longer reliable.

    They then lose confidence in their ability to “read” that photo and will trust it less than a comparable photograph that they know — or believe — does have all nine characteristics.

    TTG’s definitions of “undoctored” and “doctored”