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
Deleted Details
(Return to front page of database)

Trotsky Vanishes
Fake (deleted person)
Taken in 1919; altered ca. 1967



The Commissar Vanishes
Fake (deleted person)
ca. 1940



Red Army Flag Over Reichstag
Fake (staged & doctored)
May 2, 1945



The Vanishing Belly Button
Deleted detail
February 1964



Oswald’s Backyard Photo
Real, but copies retouched by publications
Published in February 1964



The Missing Pole
Deleted detail
May 4, 1970



The Disappearing Coke Can
Deleted detail
March 31, 1989



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



The Disappearing Nipples
Deleted details
Jan/Feb 1994



The Great Blackout of 2003
Fake (digitally altered)
Found online in late August, 2003



Whatever It Takes
Fake (cloned-in details)
October 2004



Migrant Mother Makeover
April Fool's Joke
April 2005 issue of Popular Photography



Sarkozy’s Disappearing Love Handles
Digitally altered
August 2007



The Fake General Dunwoody
Altered background and face
November 2008



Dati’s Disappearing Ring
Deleted detail
Nov 19, 2008


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