🖼️ Picture checklist

Open the picture on your own screen. You never upload it here, which keeps it private. Go through each step and tick what you checked.

1. Count the fingersLook at every hand. Five fingers each? Do thumbs bend the right way? Fake pictures often get hands wrong.2. Read the signs and wordsZoom in on street signs, shirts, and labels. Real words spell real things. Squiggles that look like letters are a clue.3. Check the backgroundDo buildings line up? Do people in the back have faces? Are there half-cars or doors that go nowhere?4. Follow the light and shadowsWhere is the sun or lamp? Every shadow should point away from it. Shadows going different ways is a clue.5. Look at the edgesHair, glasses, teeth, and jewelry melt or blur in fake pictures. Pattern clothes often warp like wet paper.6. Is it too perfect?Super smooth skin, every tooth shining, a sky that glows. Real photos have a little mess in them.7. Reverse image search with a grown-upAsk an adult to help you put the picture into a reverse image search. Did it show up somewhere else first, with a different story?8. Ask a grown-upStill not sure? That is normal. Show it to a teacher or parent and talk about what you noticed.

Why clues, not proof?