Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water … it totally was.
Image: Shutterstock
While certainly dramatic, an image of a breaching great white shark currently making the rounds on Twitter as National Geographic‘s “Photo of the Year” has nothing to do with the magazine. In fact, it isn’t even a photo.
Woah!! Photograph of the year 2016 by Bob Burton – Chief photographer of National Geographic / @NatGeo pic.twitter.com/ks5lqJwrde
— Paul Sewell (@paul_w2s) December 4, 2016
In reality, the picture is taken from a series of computer generated stock images by Russian illustrator “Alexyz3d,” a fact that becomes obvious when the render is enlarged.
Image: Shutterstock
Even the photograph’s supposed author, “National Geographic Chief Photographer Bob Burton,” is a fiction, with no one by that name working at the magazine.
Apparently this has started doing the rounds tonight. PSA: It’s fake. I can’t find a Bob Burton at Nat Geo either. pic.twitter.com/ew1qA78Owp
— ⓕ (@foomandoonian) December 4, 2016
In a year full of fake news and hoaxes, even a great white shark may seem like small potatoes. Still, let’s try to end 2016 with a shred of reality intact, ok?
Please? [@PicPedant]