Each of the following photos has been modified with an added or removed detail. Click on those spots to find out how each image became popular.
A brief (and fun) look at some of history’s most iconic images — and how they got that way.
Taken in October 1839, this image by Philadelphia lamp maker and photography pioneer Robert Cornelius shows a man with tousled hair glaring at the camera. It’s the oldest known photo of a human in America and it depicts none other than Robert Cornelius. That’s right, it’s a selfie. The image didn’t go viral quickly, given the primitive state of the media industry in the 1800s. Instead, it became widely known through its reproduction in countless history books and on the internet.
Click on an added or missing detail in this modified image to discover how it went went viral.
Hint: The seminal selfie
Alfred Eisenstaedt / The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty Images
“V-J Day in Times Square,” Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photo of a sailor smooching a nurse in Times Square to celebrate the Japanese surrender, appeared in the Aug. 27, 1945 issue of LIFE magazine, which had a million-plus circulation.
Hint: That's life, baby.
The Chicago Daily Tribune, which went to press before the final results on the 1948 presidential election were in, printed 150,000 copies of an early edition with the most notorious incorrect headline in journalistic history. “DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN,” the paper declared, to the delight of the actual winner, President Harry S. Truman, who had won a second term after edging New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey.
Byron Rollins / AP Photos
Hint: News you can't use.
On September 15, 1954, Marilyn Monroe had her dress blown upwards by air from a real Manhattan sidewalk grate while filming The Seven Year Itch. Though the version that ended up in the movie was actually shot in a studio in Hollywood, the authentic street version of one of the most legendary scenes in cinematic history begat one of the most viral movie publicity shots ever unleashed. The image became so famous that the dress pictured in it sold at auction for $4.6 million in 2011.
Matty Zimmerman / AP Photos
Hint: She's got legs.
Muhammad Ali standing over his knocked-out opponent Sonny Liston on May 26, 1965, is a scene that’s been seared in the imagination of sports fans for more than half a century. The moment was actually captured by multiple photographers from various angles, and with Ali’s recent passing, it’s gained millions of additional views as media organizations ran it in remembrance of one of The Greatest’s greatest triumphs in the ring.
John Rooney / AP Photos
Hint: The crowd goes wild!
As one of the stars of the TV series Charlie’s Angels, which debuted on ABC in 1976, Farah Fawcett was already famous. But the release that same year of a pin-up poster of Fawcett, shot by Bruce McBroom and released by Pro Arts, helped propel her to global icon status. The poster of Fawcett in a one-piece bathing sold more than 20 million copies.
Hint: An angel in disguise.
One of the most famous photographic portraits in history, Steve McCurry’s striking image of a young Afghan refugee, was shot in December 1984 and appeared on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic. It came to symbolize the plight of refugees and led the National Geographic Society to develop the Afghan Children’s Fund.
Hint: What's in a name?
Nevermind, the 1991 sleeper hit album by grunge band Nirvana, not only managed to topple Michael Jackson's Dangerous from the top of the Billboard charts, but went on to sell 24 million copies. Its album cover became one of the signature images of the 1990s.
Hint: Take the bait.
This iconic image of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet at the bow of the ship is the signature still from 1997’s Titanic, which became the highest-grossing film of all time (until Avatar overtook it 12 years later). It even took home the Oscar for Best Picture in 1998. The image has been recreated by seafaring tourists on the bows of boats countless times since then.
20th Century Fox
Hint: King of the world
"Bliss," an image by National Geographic photographer Charles O'Rear of a hill and clouds in Sonoma County, Calif., was selected by Microsoft to be the default desktop wallpaper for Windows XP, which was the most-installed computer operating system in the world for more than a decade. When Microsoft retired the image in 2014, the St. Helena Star reported that "It is inestimable how many people have seen this photo, but it likely numbers in the billions.”
Hint: Start me up!
McKayla Maroney, a member of the USA Gymnastics team at the 2012 Olympics, was expected to win a gold medal in the women's vault competition but instead took home the silver. A photo of the disappointed Maroney on the Olympic podium became an instant web and media sensation, spawning the "McKayla Maroney is not impressed" meme.
Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
Hint: Sweet memes are made of these.
On the evening of March 2, 2014, Oscars host Ellen Degeneres posed for a group “selfie” with a bunch of her celebrity pals during the Oscars telecast, with a little help from Bradley Cooper, who held her smartphone and actually took the shot. Her tweet containing the image was captioned “If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars.” According to The Guardian, it “reached 779,295 retweets in approximately half an hour” of Degeneres posting it and just kept going from there.
Hint: You look marvelous.
A 2015 BuzzFeed post asked a simple question in its headline: “What Colors Are This Dress?” A poll allowed readers to vote for either blue and black or white and gold (although some saw blue and gold) — and it seemed nobody could agree thanks to an optical illusion that caused different people to perceive the colors differently. The post became one of BuzzFeed’s most popular ever, racking up more than 37 million view to date, and was tweeted about more than 10 million times with hashtags such as #thedress, #blackandblue, and #whatcoloristhisdress.
KISS KISS
Click on an added or missing detail this modified image to discover how it went went viral.
Hint: Red fish, blue fish, gold dress, blue dress
On March 16, @kelsseyharmon tweeted this photo of her grandfather with the caption "dinner with papaw tonight...he made 12 burgers for all 6 grandkids and I'm the only one who showed. love him." The post was liked more than 300,000 times, was viewed more than 900,000 times on image-sharing site Imgur, and was the subject of a BuzzFeed post titled "People Are Freaking Out Over This Girl’s Sad Picture Of Her Grandpa" that racked up more than 2 million views. Almost overnight, Sad PawPaw became an internet meme, while the man himself—Oklahoma retiree Kenny Harmon—became a global media phenomenon. In many ways, it showed the power of two classic and opposing emoticons combined with images and text.
Hint: Social security
