HOLIDAY GAG GIFTS
Everything from the popular Farting Santa to fake Lottery Ticket stocking stuffers.

Techniques of Fakery
There are six basic techniques of faking a photo, none of which are mutually exclusive.

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, one can adjust the color, resize details, or rotate or move details.

4: falsifying the caption. (In a sense, every fake photo has been falsely captioned.)

5: Staging the scene. This is considered fakery particularly when it occurs 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.


Categories


hoax photo database

The Hoax Photo Database catalogs examples of photo fakery throughout the history of photography, from 1840 to the present. 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. The images are listed in chronological order. They are categorized by theme, technique of fakery, and time period. Click on a thumbnail for more details. Other Viewing Options: Full Text Mode.
1840-1900 | 1900-1919 | 1920-1939 | 1940-1959 | 1960-1979 | 1980-1999 | 2000-2004 | 2005-Present
Time Period: 1980-1999
(Return to front page of database)

Yeah Eckerd
Staged
1981



The Case of the Moving Pyramids
Fake (digitally altered)
February 1982



Sinking Bus
Real
March 3, 1988



The Disappearing Coke Can
Deleted detail
March 31, 1989



Oprah’s Head Transplant
Fake (composite)
August 26, 1989



Madonna’s Gapless Glamour
Fake (digital plastic surgery)
December 1990



Missing in Action
Fake (composite)
July, 1991



White Hot Mama
Fake (composite)
July 1992



The Disappearing Nipples
Deleted details
Jan/Feb 1994



Fire on Ice
Fake (composite)
Feb 16, 1994



O.J.‘s Darkened Mug Shot
Fake (altered color)
June 27, 1994



Tootsie Redressed
Fake (composite)
Mar 1997 issue of Los Angeles magazine



The Tip of the Iceberg
Fake (composite and often a false caption)
Created in 1999. Circulating online since 2001.


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