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
Category: Animals
(Return to front page of database)

The Sympsychograph
Darkroom effect (satire)
September 1896



A Bear and its Hunters
Staged
ca. 1900



Pacific Sea Monster
Staged with a log
1906



I Finally Got Him
Fake (composite)
1910



The Nest of a Fatu-Liva
Satirical false caption
1921



Mother Cat Stops Traffic
Staged Scene
July 29, 1925



Whopper Hopper
Fake (wooden model)
Unknown. Probably circa 1935.



Haulin Em Out
Fake (composite)
Unknown. Possibly mid 1930s.



The Peppered Moth
Staged using dead moths
1955



Pike Swallows Trout
Real
Jan 22, 2001



Helicopter Shark
Fake (composite)
Circulating online since Aug 2001



Manitoba Home Security
Fake (composite)
Found online in 2003



Camel Spiders in Iraq
Real picture, false caption
Found online, Spring 2004



Modern-Day Diplocaulus
Fake (clay model)
Circulating online since late 2004



“Qinghai-Tibet railway opens green passage for wildlife”
Fake (composite)
Published in 2006. Debunked in 2008.


Page 1 of 2 pages  1 2 >

Note: This form searches only the photo database. To search the entire museum, use our google search form.