Usually, when we look at the pictures from the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, we don’t normally contest its authenticity. We automatically think that they are real. But, it proves to be wrong. Even at those times, the masters of photo manipulation were able to erase an “unnecessary” person or to add one. You will also see some modern pictures that were manipulated by the media. It is also interesting to see that the media want us to see only things that arrange them.
Civil War Generals, c. 1865
Generally regarded as the world’s first commercially successful photojournalist, Matthew Brady was also one of the medium’s most accomplished manipulators. In this group portrait of William Tecumseh Sherman and his top officers, he added one figure. For the record, the men are, standing, from left: Oliver Otis Howard, William Babcock Hazen, Jefferson Columbus Davis and Joseph Anthony Mower; seated, from left: John Alexander Logan, Sherman, Henry Warner Slocum and Francis P. Blair.
The Original Image
Brady added Blair at the far right. One of Sherman’s corps commanders in the critical final offensive in Georgia, Blair led the XVII Corps, which protected the rear of Sherman’s army during the Atlanta campaign. Like the other men in the photo, he played an important role in the March to the Sea, helping deliver one of the final blows to the Confederate cause.
