[KineticLensman]

Really interesting to look at this a photographer. In the 'famous' image of the miners' strike a miner (wearing a toy police helmet) is at first glance staring into the face of a serious-looking real policeman opposite him. However, at a second, longer glance, the miner is clearly not actually opposite the policeman - his head is twice the size. The less famous image shows that the miner is actually opposite a line of policeman and the one directly in front of him has a much less intense expression (one has a slight smile / smirk). This is two different shots rather than two different crops of the same shot but the effect is as you describe.

Looking at the picture of the soldiers with the tired/distressed man, there are two soldiers on either side of the distressed man. A third soldier in the foreground is holding a gun. The angle of the image has the end of the gun directly above the man's head but it possible from the real geometry that the gun is only very loosely pointed at the man, and not at the top of his head at all. I'm not suggesting here that my interpretation is correct, but it again shows how ambiguous imagery can be, even when not edited to make a point.