Fact Check: Viral picture of Blue Dragon river (Odeleite) is an aerial image but not shot from space
An image of a river in Portugal resembling the mythical dragon is in circulation with the claim that the image was taken from space.
Claim :
The image of the Blue Dragon river, also known as River Odeleite, in Portugal is taken from SpaceFact :
This is an aerial image of the reservoir behind the dam on River Odeleite in Portugal, but not taken from space.
An image of a river in Portugal resembling the mythical dragon is in circulation with the claim that the image was taken from space.
Fact Check:
The claim is misleading. Though the image shows a reservoir genuinely shaped like a dragon, it was not shot from space. The image is an aerial view of the River Blue Dragon in Portugal.
When we searched for the image using reverse image search, we found the viral image shared by a Facebook page named Titanic Whale with the caption “The Blue Dragon River, Portugal. Way of the Dragon - A better view of the mystic river Odeleite near Castro Marim, north of Faro, Portugal. Now, popularly known as the Blue Dragon river, a photo by Steve Richards (Wales) in 2010 generated a lot of media attention and questions arose concerning its authenticity. But the river does exist and given its curvy shape and blue colour, it really does resemble a blue dragon.”
According to an article in viralarticles.co.uk, for photographers and nature enthusiasts, the Blue Dragon river is a true paradise. The interplay of light and water, shadows and reflections, creates an endless array of captivating compositions. Whether you’re capturing the vivid blue against the lush greenery or framing the river as it disappears into the distance, every snapshot becomes a work of art.
The article shares several images in the aerial view and also images from Google Maps which resemble the viral image.
According to Times of India report, photographer Steve Richards was once flying over the dam and captured the river in his camera which looked unusually curvy and deep blue in colour. He shared the image on social media which immediately went viral. The river’s outline is like a Chinese dragon.
Here is the link to photographer Steve Richards's post on Flickr under the caption The Blue Dragon.
“Since posting this photo, I'm amazed and highly flattered that it has proved so popular. I've seen it on many 'blog' sites with people commenting left, right and centre on it and a recurring theme seems to be that some people believe it to be either a computer-generated image or a piece of digital art from some computer game. I even read somewhere that it was an artificially coloured satellite image!
For the record, it is a photograph, of a real place, that I took on our flight from Cardiff to Faro. The blue colour is from the water reflecting the sky and the white flecks are of course the clouds. The striking colours are thanks to running the original picture through Topaz Adjust 4.
Not that the above information will help anyone be convinced that it's fake, but at least it allows me with the opportunity to set the record straight for anyone willing to read this text. Debate is good and I'm mightily pleased that my image has generated so much of it! My thanks to everyone who's taken the time to view it, leave comments and add it to their favourites. I hope that other of my pictures do as well as this one!!
Cheers everyone!! Steve (Wales UK)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/
Here is the image on Google Maps.
Therefore, the image seen is not shot from space but is an aerial photograph of the Blue Dragon river (River Odeleite) in Portugal. The claim is misleading.