On April 3, an image\u00a0of a space shuttle emerging from the clouds trailed by an extended smoke plume was posted on Facebook.<\/p>\n
“Nasa has captured the picture of a space shuttle leaving Earth’s atmosphere,” reads the post with\u00a0more than 500 shares and nearly 1,000 reactions. The image was shared by\u00a0the group Universe explorer.<\/p>\n
The image was taken from a shuttle training aircraft, confirmed Patti Bielling, News Chief at the Kennedy Space Center,\u00a0to USA TODAY via email.<\/p>\n
But the image has been modified.<\/p>\n
The image\u00a0was posted to NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day\u00a0page on May 25, 2011, and depicts the space shuttle Endeavour launching into orbit on\u00a0May 16. The image is titled\u00a0Space Shuttle Rising and credits NASA.<\/p>\n
After the launch,\u00a0similar images\u00a0taken\u00a0from different angles\u00a0began circulating on the web.<\/p>\n
But when compared to the original, the image posted on Facebook is darker\u00a0and the clouds have\u00a0been\u00a0blurred\u00a0on the top and bottom. This is a result of “tilt-shift” photography, also\u00a0known as “miniature faking.”<\/p>\n
When taking a picture, the “tilt” is the physical tilting, forward or backward, of the camera. This\u00a0impacts the focus plane. The “shift” is\u00a0moving the camera\u00a0from side-to-side or up and down.<\/p>\n
This can be also imitated\u00a0on an existing image using Photoshop to blur the top and bottom while maintaining\u00a0the focus on the central axis. A graduated filter can be used to make the image slightly darker at the bottom.<\/p>\n
That what was done to this image.<\/p>\n
“While the filter or technique may highlight a certain aspect of the photo, like other filters or (effects), it is ultimately an altering of reality,” said Emily Johnson, visual editor for USA TODAY.<\/p>\n
Johnson added that\u00a0in photojournalism\u00a0the mission \u00a0is to capture reality, therefore an image that has been\u00a0altered loses its\u00a0credibility.<\/p>\n
An\u00a0image posted on\u00a0Facebook claiming to show a NASA-captured image of a space shuttle launch is ALTERED, based on our research. While the image does\u00a0depict\u00a0the launch of Endeavour, the image has been edited, using a tilt-shift effect.<\/p>\n