TrustImage: The "Nonfiction" Label for Photographs

The most universal form of mass communication in the world
— the photograph —
is undergoing the biggest change
in its history, an almost-180-degree reversal
from being generally presumed to be “nonfiction”
to being routinely presumed to be “fiction.”

TrustImage is a response to that historic change.

The word “TrustImage” attached to a photograph simply means that the photographer is personally and publicly guaranteeing that the photograph has all three characteristics of the most-famous and most-trusted news photographs of the digital age:

1. “The photograph is a record of a single moment.”

To qualify as TrustImage, a photograph must be made from a single uninterrupted exposure, period. No exceptions. Combining any or all parts of two or more exposures for any reason (stitching, HDR, focus, or other) always disqualifies the result from TrustImage. The TrustImage label is exclusively for photographs that are a record of “one unrepeatable moment in time,” not of two or more separate moments — regardless of how close to each other those separate moments may be.

2. “The photograph was left exactly as recorded except for the only four kinds of changes allowed by every newspaper in the world.”

To qualify as TrustImage, a photograph can undergo no more changes than cropping; sharpening; changes to “light”-related aspects (brightness, contrast, hue, saturation); and changes to “surface” aspects of the photograph that were not part of the scene that was photographed (e.g., resizing the photograph, printing it on matte or glossy paper, etc.). Any change to a photograph other than these four is considered a “content” manipulation and always disqualifies the photograph from TrustImage.

3. “The photograph does not misrepresent the scene it depicts.”

To qualify as TrustImage, the photograph (including the results of #2 above) and its presentation must meet contemporary American newspaper-reportage standards for non-misrepresentation of both the appearance and the circumstances of the original scene.

It’s easy to make photographs that qualify for the TrustImage label (photos “qualify as TrustImage” when they fully meet all three of the “To qualify...” paragraphs above). Usually all it takes is putting the camera on Automatic, snapping the picture, processing it normally, and leaving it as is. Indeed, almost all of the millions of snapshots taken around the world every hour would meet all three TrustImage qualifications!

However, it is harder to make impressive TrustImage-qualified photographs. Many of the photographs put before the public outside of news settings undergo substantive manipulations that enhance their appearance but disqualify them from TrustImage (just as they would not meet the standards of news organizations). The public is accordingly most skeptical about impressive “non-news” photographs — landscape, travel, nature, people, sports, adventure, street scenes, etc. — and in years to come the TrustImage label may prove most useful on those kinds of photographs.

• The TrustImage label can be applied at no charge by any photographer (at any level) — in any font, size, and location — to any of his or her own photographs (film or digital), of any subject, as long as the photograph fully meets all three of TrustImage's qualifications (see the “To qualify...” requirements outlined above).

• Use of the TrustImage label is always completely voluntary and optional. Since photographers apply it only to their own photographs — never to anyone else’s — those who see no need for TrustImage never need to bother with it.

• Because it constitutes a personal guarantee from the photographer, the TrustImage label must ALWAYS be accompanied by identification of the photographer (via the photo credit or elsewhere). Viewers should ignore the TrustImage label if the photographer is not identified.

• Publishers, photo-contest sponsors, third-party websites, exhibitors, and other third-party content-providers cannot attach the TrustImage label to an unlabeled photograph; only the photographer responsible for the photograph can do that. But publishers and others CAN reproduce the TrustImage label with a previously labeled photograph — as long as they also identify the photographer who is personally and publicly guaranteeing that the photograph fully meets all three of TrustImage’s qualifications (again, see the black “To qualify...” paragraphs under each of the three requirements listed above).

One photographer.
One exposure.
One small corner of the world.
One unrepeatable moment in time.

NOTE

The hundreds of other pages of this website have been
temporarily disabled for a major facelift of the site
(in preparation for TrustImage’s public launch in early 2009).
In the meantime, inquiries can be directed to support@trustimage.org.

Thank you for your patience and support.