10 Photos That Look 100% Photoshopped — But Every Single One Is Real
A pink lake in Senegal. A perfect grid of waves off France. A 50-year-old fire pit in Turkmenistan. A Saskatchewan lake you can float on like driftwood.
Part of: The Hidden Internet
Every few weeks an image goes viral with the comment ‘this has to be fake.’ Sometimes it is. Often it isn’t. Every single photo on this list is real — and the stories behind them are wilder than the pictures.
Lake Retba in Senegal is the colour of Pepto-Bismol. The pink comes from a salt-loving algae called Dunaliella salina, which thrives in water saltier than the Dead Sea. Workers harvest the salt by hand, standing waist-deep in pink water under a yellow sun. No filter would dare.
Off the coast of Île de Ré in France, two opposing currents meet to create a perfect grid of square waves on the ocean surface. The pattern is called a cross sea. It is also dangerous: most ships avoid the area because the geometry hides rip currents underneath.
Saskatchewan’s Little Manitou Lake has a salt content high enough that swimmers float on the surface like driftwood. On still days the water turns mirror-flat and reflects clouds so cleanly the horizon disappears.
Related read: 200 free spins and a clean mobile site? We checked the fine print. Sponsored
The Door to Hell in Turkmenistan is a 70-metre-wide gas crater that has been on fire since 1971. Soviet engineers lit it expecting it to burn out in weeks. It has now been burning for over 50 years. Visitors describe the air around it as physically warm from a kilometre away.
The point isn’t that the world is photoshopped. It’s that we’ve gotten so used to seeing edited images that the unedited ones look fake by comparison.
Elsewhere on The Daily Stash
- Her American Roommate Started a Spreadsheet of Every Weird Thing She Did. Then It Went Viral. – The Daily Stash
- 200 free spins and a clean mobile site? We checked the fine print – ZoccerSponsored
- He Stepped Outside for the Recycling and Didn't Come Back for Four Hours. His Wife Called the RCMP. – The Daily Stash
- The mobile casino experience that finally doesn’t feel clunky – CasinaSponsored
- A Toronto Man Sued His Bank Over a 4PM Closing Time – The Daily Stash
Sources
Elsewhere on the web
Editorial picks · external- 40 Times Influencers Went Too Far For ‘The Perfect Shot’ And Got Called Out — Swagbae
- Mayor Responds After Video Shows Man Throwing Rock at Endangered Seal Lani in Hawaii — NBC New York
- From Vine to Friendster, Why Is Retro Social Media Coming Back? — Creative Bloq
- How to Save a Life: Paramedics on Emergency First Aid — The Guardian
- Are Running Clubs a Good Alternative to Dating Apps? — The Cut
- Why Japan Has Millions of Abandoned Houses — The Hustle
Original editorial. Written by The Daily Stash Editors. See our editorial policy.