The Museum of Hoaxes
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Techniques of
Photo Fakery
1: Inserting details. This includes placing an element from one photo into another to create a composite image, reproducing a detail of the photo by cloning it, superimposing an image onto another, or drawing-in details.

2: Deleting details. This is usually done by extending background elements over the unwanted detail. Or one can crop out the unwanted detail.

3: Manipulating elements within the photo. For instance, adjusting the color, resizing details, or rotating or moving details.

4: falsifying the caption.

5: Staging the scene. This is considered fakery particularly in photojournalism. Varieties of staging a scene include using models and cutouts and inserting a prop into the scene.

6: Trick angles. The most common example of this is the use of forced perspective.
Site Map
Photo Archive Categories
The Hoax Photo Archive
A gallery of photo fakery throughout history.

Years Archived:
1840-1900 | 1900-1919 | 1920-1939 | 1940-1959 | 1960-1979 | 1980-1999 | 2000-2004 | 2005-Present
Home Computer of the Future (First posted online September 11, 2004)
Popular Science magazine did not publish this image in 1954, predicting that it was what a home computer would look like fifty years in the future. ...»
Whatever It Takes (October 2004)
An ad released by Bush's 2004 presidential campaign showed a crowd scene from which the President had been digitally removed. ...»
Modern-Day Diplocaulus (Circulating online since late 2004)
The mysterious creature in the bucket was actually a clay model, not a surviving prehistoric Diplocaulus. ...»
Tsunami Seen From a High-Rise (Appeared online in early January 2005)
This photo supposedly showed a scene from the devastating Asian tsunami of December 2004, but the city in the picture is Antofagasta, Chile. ...»
Hostage "John Adam," whose photo appeared on internet bulletin boards used by Iraqi rebels, turned out to be a Cody action-figure doll. ...»
Martha’s Last Laugh (March 2005)
Newsweek indicated nowhere on the cover that this shot was actually a composite image of Martha Stewart's head pasted onto a model's body. ...»
Migrant Mother Makeover (April 2005 issue of Popular Photography)
Popular Photography's readers were outraged when the magazine ran a feature on how Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother photo could be improved. ...»
“I can promise, this will never get done” (Created in 2005. Circulating online since 2008.)
Artist Alison Jackson uses lookalikes to create images of "celebrities ostensibly caught unawares." ...»
Unable to gather for a photo shoot, the Spanish royal family instead digitally assembled for its Christmas holiday photo. ...»
“Qinghai-Tibet railway opens green passage for wildlife” (Published in 2006. Debunked in 2008.)
This award-winning Chinese photo appeared to show the peaceful co-existence of antelope with a new high-speed train. Unfortunately the photo was a digital composite. ...»
Fake Smoke Over Beirut (August 5, 2006)
A freelance photographer heightened the drama of this image distributed by Reuters by adding additional smoke. ...»
Katie Couric Slimmed Down (September 2006)
A digitally slimmed down version of Katie Couric appeared in CBS's Watch magazine. ...»
Suicidal Teens Welcome (Found on the internet, early 2007)
The armed forces does not really actively recruit suicidal teenagers. ...»
Giant Tomatoes (February 6, 2007)
Forced perspective makes these tomatoes look enormous. ...»
The French Dinner (July 2007)
This fake picture caused a scandal in Malaysia because it appeared to link the country's deputy prime minister to the murder of a young woman. ...»
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All text Copyright © 2011 by Alex Boese, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.