The Hoax Photo Archive: 2000-2004

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: 2000-2004

Louis Vuitton Designer SARS Mask. The fashion designer never actually included a SARS mask in any of its collections. (April 2003)	Manitoba Home Security. A digital composite makes it appear that polar bears are relaxing outside someone's house. (Found online in 2003)	The Real Julia. Julia Roberts' head was pasted onto a younger version of her body. (July 2003)
The Great Blackout of 2003. This fake photo circulated widely in the days following the Great Blackout of 2003. (Found online in late August 2003)	Trophy Turkey. Newspaper captions failed to mention that the turkey Bush was holding was a decorative centerpiece not intended for consumption by the troops. (Thanksgiving 2003)	Hanoi John. Not only had Fonda not shared the stage with Kerry, she hadn’t even attended the rally shown here. (Circulating online since Feb 2004)
Camel Spiders in Iraq. It's true that camel spiders are very large, but much of the information about these creatures that accompanied this picture as it went around the internet was false. (Found online, Spring 2004)	Giant Human Skeleton. Despite what this photo appears to show, archaeologists did not unearth a giant human skeleton in Saudi Arabia. (Circulating online since early 2004)	Fetal Footprint. The abdominal wall is too muscular and thick to actually allow a footprint to be seen with this clarity. (Circulating online since mid-2004)
Home Computer of the Future. 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. (First posted online September 11, 2004)	Whatever It Takes. An ad released by Bush's 2004 presidential campaign showed a crowd scene from which the President had been digitally removed. (October 2004)	Modern-Day Diplocaulus. The mysterious creature in the bucket was actually a clay model, not a surviving prehistoric Diplocaulus. (Circulating online since late 2004)
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