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I tried to find the original source for a photo that went viral about a 'government test site'.
It was a picture of some weird concrete pads in the desert, and the story said it was a secret project. Took me about four hours of reverse image searches to finally track it down to a 2012 art installation in Nevada. How do you guys usually check if a viral image is real?
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lisaf386mo ago
I always just did reverse image search too, but @skyler631's point about checking shadows is a game changer. It makes you look at the whole story the picture is telling. Now I check the little details before I even believe the headline.
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skyler6317mo ago
Reverse image search is step one, but it fails a lot. I've started looking at the shadows and light in the picture. If a photo claims to be from a secret base but the sun angle proves it was taken at a totally different time of year than the story says, you know it's fake. Also, check the file data if you can. A picture from a "recent leak" that has a 2010 timestamp in its metadata is a dead giveaway.
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burns.anna7mo ago
Metadata is a great tip. I've also had luck checking for brand logos or product labels that weren't out yet when the photo was supposedly taken. It can really pin down the earliest possible date.
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