6 Photographers were asked to shoot portraits of the same man.

In conjunction with Canon Australia, The Lab created the following fascinating video that explores just how much our perceptions can shape an image. Called “Decoy,” 6 photographers were asked to shoot portraits of the same man for the experiment. Each photographer was told the subject’s name, Michael, and in a twist, each photographer was individually told a piece of fictional information about Michael. One photographer was told that Michael was a self-made millionaire while another was told that Michael was an ex-inmate. Each of the six photographers thought Michael was something different – a millionaire, an inmate, a psychic, a fisherman, a hero who saved someone’s life or a former alcoholic.

Placed in the same warehouse studio with the same possible setups, the photographers set out to capture the essence of who they thought Michael was, and each of the six portraits are vastly different. As the photographers looked at the images at the end of the video (before the reveal that Michael was none of the things they thought he was), you can hear some of the photographers remarking on how in one image to the next, Michael looked like, “a totally different person.”

“A photograph is shaped more by the person behind the camera than by what’s in front of it,” Canon concludes. In proving this, the company hopes to shift an artist’s creative thinking the power of the role they play when they’re behind a camera lens.

Millionaire

Ex-convict

Life Saver

Fisherman

Alcoholic

Psychic