The Hoax Photo Archive: 2005-Present

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: 2005-Present

Tsunami Seen From a High-Rise. This photo supposedly showed a scene from the devastating Asian tsunami of December 2004, but the city in the picture is Antofagasta, Chile. (Appeared online in early January 2005)	Islamic Hostage Action-Figure Hoax. Hostage "John Adam," whose photo appeared on internet bulletin boards used by Iraqi rebels, turned out to be a Cody action-figure doll. (February 1, 2005)	Martha’s Last Laugh. 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. (March 2005)
Migrant Mother Makeover. Popular Photography's readers were outraged when the magazine ran a feature on how Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother photo could be improved. (April 2005 issue of Popular Photography)	“I can promise, this will never get done”. Artist Alison Jackson uses lookalikes to create images of "celebrities ostensibly caught unawares." (Created in 2005. Circulating online since 2008.)	Holiday Greetings, from Spain’s Royal Family. Unable to gather for a photo shoot, the Spanish royal family instead digitally assembled for its Christmas holiday photo. (December 2005)
“Qinghai-Tibet railway opens green passage for wildlife”. 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. (Published in 2006. Debunked in 2008.)	Fake Smoke Over Beirut. A freelance photographer heightened the drama of this image distributed by Reuters by adding additional smoke. (August 5, 2006)	Katie Couric Slimmed Down. A digitally slimmed down version of Katie Couric appeared in CBS's Watch magazine. (September 2006)
Suicidal Teens Welcome. The armed forces does not really actively recruit suicidal teenagers. (Found on the internet, early 2007)	Giant Tomatoes. Forced perspective makes these tomatoes look enormous. (February 6, 2007)	The French Dinner. 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. (July 2007)
Sarkozy’s Disappearing Love Handles. Paris Match was accused of pandering to French President Nicolas Sarkozy when it reduced the size of his love handles in this photo of him canoeing with his son. (August 2007)	Paper Tiger. The South China tiger in this photo, a species feared to be extinct, turned out to be a paper cutout. (October 3, 2007)	Vote for Dean Hrbacek. In this flyer distributed by Hrbacek's campaign, the candidate's head was pasted onto the body of a significantly slimmer man. (January 2008)
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