TTG Plus > FAQs > This is FAQ 11


On P1 of the Trust Test

“The use of visible light”

  • 1101. What’s the point of P1?

    P1 ensures that no one introduces anything into the image area anything that was not recorded during the relevant exposure(s) using the portion of the light spectrum that is visible to humans.

    This is in keeping with Characteristic #1 of trusted photographs (“uses visible light”).

  • 1102. What kind of images are disqualified by P1?

    In addition to the current technologies listed in P1 — AI-GC, x-ray, infrared, sonograms, CT scans, MRIs — the disqualification will also apply to any future imaging technologies that also employ non-visible portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

    TTG, like photography itself, will always be about “recording with light.”

  • 1103. I understand TTG’s prohibition of added AI-generated content, but why are all images depicting things captured in ranges outside of human vision disqualified by P1?

    On a principled level, P1 reflects TTG’s commitment to celebrating human seeing — “what one person saw, in one small corner of the world, at one unrepeatable moment in time,” as it says in FAQ #120.

    But there is a practical reason as well.

  • 1104. Is TTG saying that things like infrared, x-ray, and thermal images do not qualify as photographs?

    No, TTG never gets involved in declaring what is or is not “a photograph” — only in declaring what is a TTG-qualified photograph (which is what the Trust Test decides).

    TTG accepts any common definition of the noun “photograph.” Millions of images that meet those common definitions do not qualify as TTG.

  • 1105. But people were making photographs on infrared film decades ago. Why are infrared photographs disqualified by P1?

    Because infrared photographs misrepresent the tonal relationships seen by the human eye.

    In other words, the characteristics of infrared that appeal to its fans are the same characteristics that disqualify it from P1.

    More

  • 1106. P1 says that x-rays cannot qualify as TTG. Does that mean that a photo of a doctor talking to a patient while holding an x-ray is disqualified from TTG because it has a non-TTG image in it?

    No. P8 says that a non-TTG image cannot be “a primary subject” of a TTG photo (so that viewers don’t think the non-TTG image is actually TTG-qualified).

    Thus unless the x-ray image is “a primary subject” of the photograph, the presence of an x-ray photo in the scene does not disqualify the photo from TTG.

    A normal photograph of a doctor holding an x-ray does indeed use “the portion of the light spectrum that is visible to humans in its depiction of what the camera lens saw during the exposure(s),” which is why such a photo would not be disqualified by P1.

  • 1107. What’s the harm in overlaying things in the image area?

    (This is a reference to “C” in P1.)

    As with #1103 (above), there’s both a principled and a practical reason.

    As a matter of principle, the public is told that no photograph can meet the Trust Test (see P1) if it depicts anything that was not “recorded during the relevant exposure(s) using the portion of the light spectrum that is visible to humans.”

    On a practical level, if the policy were otherwise a photographer could

    1) overlay something onto the image area to obscure a deceptive or important aspect of the photo, or

    2) visually imply that an overlay was part of the scene depicted.

    There is no non-arbitrary way of putting limits on the size of words or graphics placed over the image area.

  • 1108. What if a trusted news provider’s practice is to put the photo credit in very small type in the lower right corner of the photo?

    Each provider can decide what they want to do.

    If they are a truly trusted news provider whose viewers are accustomed to seeing a small photo credit in the lower right corner, they may decide that their viewers are unlikely to lose trust in the photo if there is a small “TTG” or “TTG-IC” inserted at the beginning of that photo credit.

  • 1109. What about the photographer putting a watermark on a photo to reduce the chances of image theft?

    That version of that photo would not qualify as TTG, but photographers who want to protect their work could put a watermark on the photo with a note that “the non-watermarked version of this photo qualifies as TTG.”

    Especially if the watermark is not opaque (and thus potentially blocking something deceptive), viewers may have no problem imagining the TTG-qualified (non-watermarked) version of the watermarked photo.

 

See also the “P1” tab on “How undoctored photographs work”

The numbering of the FAQ questions will not change — any new questions are added at the bottom and given new numbers — so users can safely make a link to any specific question.