The Hoax Photo Archive: Composite Images

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

Composite Images

Petticoat Politics. A Northern photographer created this image of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in a dress. (May 1865)	Lincoln’s Portrait. The head of Lincoln was pasted onto the body of Southern leader John Calhoun in order to create a heroic-style presidential portrait. (Late 1860s)	William ‘Dad’ Martin’s Freak Postcards. Martin made a fortune selling "freak" postcards that featured midwesterners interacting with oversized animals and vegetables. (1909-1910)
The Melon Party. In order to create this postcard of children eating a giant watermelon, photographer Alfred Stanley Johnson used wooden props. (1911)	Raised Runway. An April Fool's day image shows a raised runway in a German city. (Undated. Possibly from the 1920s.)	Wisconsin’s Capitol Collapses. An April Fool's Day image of the Wisconsin state capitol collapsing due to an excess of gas generated by verbose debate. (April 1, 1933)
Lung-Powered Flying Machine. This April Fool's day image of a new method of flying fooled many, including the New York Times. (April 1, 1934)	The Tydings Affair. This fake picture of Senator Tydings chatting with the head of the American Communist Party may have caused Tydings to lose his campaign for reelection. (1950)	Dr. Schweitzer in the Congo. More than thirty years after its initial publication, this famous photo by W. Eugene Smith was discovered to be two photos composited together. (1954)
Oprah’s Head Transplant. It's Oprah Winfrey's head, but it's Ann-Margret's body. (August 26, 1989)	White Hot Mama. Texas Governor Ann Richards' head was pasted onto the body of a model to create this magazine cover. (July 1992)	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)
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.)	Cut-and-Paste Diversity. In order to highlight their school's racial diversity, University of Wisconsin-Madison officials pasted a black student's face into this crowd scene that appeared on the cover of the undergraduate application. (September 2000)
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