Truth in Photography

Historical photographs have seen a recent spike in popularity amongst blogs, humor sites, and even formal news sites.  I'm sure we've all seen them during those 'down the rabbit hole' search sessions, John Lennon and Che Guavera playing guitar together, Lincoln's widow comforted by his ghost, the Cottingley Fairies, and of course by now we know that all of these images are fakes.  It's not too shocking an idea that since the invention of the photograph, there were those capable of creating false images during or after the painstakingly long development processes.  But the idea that creating a false image that can bring forth more truth than the original, that's something worth not only investigating, but celebrating as well.

I know we were only supposed to choose a single image (the altered being my official choice), and technically I have, but I wanted to show you both and let you decide which image has more truth too it for you, the original, or the altered version.  The first image is a photo taken in 1936 by Dorthea Lange showing drought refugees waiting for the opening of the orange picking season in Porterville, California.

Note: I don't consider Black and White images to be inherently false, but they are only capable of showing half of the story.  I'm only clarifying my stance on the above image as being the "true" image, while realizing that some may have the same assumptions about black and white images that I do.  Also the fact that color is still considerably young when it comes to the history of photography.  

The second image is the creation of a very talented Photoshop Artist by the name of Cyriel Roumen.

Does the addition of color give this image more "truth" than the original?  In some ways absolutely it does, but it also loses some truth in the process.  Although every photograph depicts something that has already happened, black and white images will always have a more immediate feeling of history than their color counterparts.  So, can a truthful image, with a little bit of fiction added, have more truth than the original?

link to images: colorizing photoshppers