The Hoax Photo Archive: 1980-1999

About the
Hoax Photo Archive

Images are categorized by theme, technique of fakery, and time period. Click on a thumbnail for more details about each photo. Included in the database are photos that are "real," but which have been suspected of being fake, as well as images whose veracity remains undetermined.

Techniques of
Photo Fakery

There are six basic techniques of faking a photo:

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: Taking a photo at a trick angle. The most common example of this is the use of forced perspective.

The Hoax Photo Archive
A catalog of photo fakery throughout history

Years Archived:
1840-1900 | 1900-1919 | 1920-1939 | 1940-1959 | 1960-1979 | 1980-1999 | 2000-2004 | 2005-Present

Time Period: 1980-1999

Yeah Eckerd. The news photographer staged the scene by having a fan write the phrase "Yeah Eckerd" on the soles of his feet. (1981)	The Case of the Moving Pyramids. In what became the first high-profile example of digital photo manipulation, National Geographic moved the pyramids slightly closer together to fit within the frame of the cover. (February 1982)	Sinking Bus. This double-decker bus actually did fall into a hole in the road. The photo was not staged or digitally created. (March 3, 1988)
The Disappearing Coke Can. An editor digitally removed a Coke can from this front-page image because he felt it ruined the composition of the photo. (March 31, 1989)	Oprah’s Head Transplant. It's Oprah Winfrey's head, but it's Ann-Margret's body. (August 26, 1989)	Madonna’s Gapless Glamour. Madonna got mad when she discovered a photo editor had digitally closed the gap between her front teeth. (December 1990)
Missing in Action. The Pentagon concluded that the men in this photo were not American fliers missing in action in Vietnam. Instead, they were Soviet farmers. (July, 1991)	White Hot Mama. Texas Governor Ann Richards' head was pasted onto the body of a model to create this magazine cover. (July 1992)	The Disappearing Nipples. The editors of American Photo decided they had to digitally remove Kate Moss's nipples from this cover photo "as a matter of taste." (Jan/Feb 1994)
Fire on Ice. Harding and Kerrigan were seen skating together on this Newsday cover, but the scene never occurred in real life. (Feb 16, 1994)	O.J.‘s Darkened Mug Shot. Time magazine was accused of racism when it decided to use a darkened version of O.J. Simpson's mugshot on its cover. (June 27, 1994)	Tootsie Redressed. Dustin Hoffman sued Los Angeles magazine for $5 million on account of this photo of his head pasted onto the body of a model wearing a silk gown. (Mar 1997 issue of Los Angeles magazine)
The Tip of the Iceberg. This widely circulated photo is actually a digital composite of four different images. (Created in 1999. Circulating online since 2001.)
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