Mistakes happen even to the best of us – but when your name is Nikon and you have 10 million Facebook fans – you know you’re in trouble. It all started when Nikon announced that they had decided to give a prize to Chay Yu Wei for managing to “catch an airplane in mid-air.” The problem was that there was no plane in the original shot to begin with.

The photo was so badly edited that you could see it on any larger screen (well, at least we saw it). Not to mention that Nikon should have checked it with “curves” or “levels” in Photoshop. When it seemed that the things couldn’t get worse, someone posted the answer from the photographer himself. To a question “How long did you wait for that plane?” he replied: “Not too long! I was lucky! Thank you so much!”



The Internet didn’t take long to respond…

More info: Nikon (h/t: PetaPixel)

Nikon awarded a prize to Chay Yu Wei for managing to “catch an airplane in mid-air”

However, “just by changing the levels you can immediately see it is photoshopped”

Image credits: Shaun Ho

The photographer said he didn’t wait “too long” for the plane. “I was lucky,” he said

Image credits: Melissa Yeo

But it was too late…

Image credits: Render Brant

…and the force was strong

Image credits: Naoki Tsukumo

“Totally NOT Photoshopped! I have the same lens!”

Image credits: Eric Benson

“Can I haz one trolly Bag too?”

Image credits: Tom Ignatius

Little did he expect to catch a Godzilla

Image credits: Glenn Guan

Seems legit

Image credits: Alf Chern

“Little did he expect to catch a bride in mid-air aisle”

Image credits: Zhirong Fu

“007 chanced upon a set of ladders while on a photowalk searching for a shaken and not stirred Martini”

Image credits: Adrian Lam

“Little did I expect to see Van Damme doing an epic split up there”

Image credits: SG Yu

“Little did he expect to catch a Xiao Zha Bor climbing down the ladder looking stunned. He fainted after the photo has taken”

Image credits: Randy DeWitt Wei Ming

“Little did I expect anyhow to catch this flying thing in mid-air”

Image credits: 吕籽践

Image credits: Tim Erdmann

“Nikon, you should seriously consider a new campaign for the best photoshopped image from this thread. Winner gets a camera instead, at least we put in effort to make it goes viral online”

Image credits: Thomas Lim

…and someone has even found Waldo

Image credits: Vato915

After a while Nikon responded and admitted their mistake

“At Nikon, we believe that innovation and imagination are at the heart of every image. While innovation is driven by the technological advances in our devices and cameras, we see imagination as the ability to see greatness and use each and every tool at your disposal to make them real.

NikonCaptures is a casual photography contest that focuses not on the devices or props you use, but on the imagination and creativity that each photographer exudes while capturing and sharing their images. We have taken in every feedback received, and we sincerely apologise for the oversight on our part. We are now in the process of carefully revisiting the contest’s rules and regulations, for the benefit of all our current NikonCaptures members. We will update everyone of the contest rules once we have revisited all of them.

At the same time, we welcome the funny and witty entries being shared in response to our recently awarded image. It’s with joy that we acknowledge that the global photography and image community is alive and thriving. We thank you for the numerous spontaneous contributions and encourage everyone to keep the imagination alive.”

Update: we just received an explanation from Chay Yu Wei

Like one user commented, I was on a photo walk in Chinatown and I chanced upon that set of ladders. I snapped a picture of it, and subsequently felt that a plane at that spot would make for an interesting point of view. Hence, I inserted the plane with PicsArt and uploaded it to Instagram. That’s how I use Instagram, sometime it’s to showcase the work I’m proud of, sometimes just to have fun. This case, that small plane was just for fun and it was not meant to bluff anyone. I would have done it with photoshop if I really meant to lie about it, but no, it was a playful edit using the PicsArt app and uploaded to Instagram. When my friends commented with some questions, I also answered it jokingly, saying it’s the last flight of the day and saying it was my lucky day that I did not wait too long. At that time, of course everyone who read it took it as a joke, before this issue arrived and it is taken seriously.

However, I made a mistake by not keeping it to Instagram as a casual social media platform. I crossed the line by submitting the photo for a competition. I meant it as a joke and I’m really sorry to Nikon for disrespecting the competition. It is a mistake and I shouldn’t have done that. I also shouldn’t have jokingly answered Nikon that I caught the plane in mid-air and should have just clarified that the plane was edited in using PicsArt. This is my fault and I sincerely apologise to Nikon, to all Nikon Photographers, and to the photography community as general.

This has been a great lesson to me, and I hope I will be a wiser person to use this as encouragement to polish my photography skill. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I also appreciate all the supports from friends around me.”