The Hoax Photo Archive: False Caption

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

False Caption

Portrait of the Photographer as a Drowned Man. The first fake photo ever created: Hippolyte Bayard pretending to be a suicide victim. (1840)	The Martyr Lincoln. One of many fake death photos of President Lincoln. (late 1860s)	The Silent City. An Alaskan prospector claimed this was a photo of a "silent city" mirage visible from Muir Glacier. It was actually a blurry photo of Bristol, England. (ca. 1889)
The Sympsychograph. Supposedly a psychic projection of "a cat in its real essence." Intended as a joke, but taken seriously by many. (September 1896)	Ocean Execution. A vacation snapshot was creatively recaptioned to become evidence of a brutal execution scene. (December 1913)	Stotham, Massachusetts. An advertising monograph celebrated the architecture of a fictitious town. (Published in April 1920)
The Nest of a Fatu-Liva. An image of square eggs satirically proves that the camera never lies. (1921)	Baby Adolf. This fake baby photo of Adolf Hitler circulated widely during the mid-1930s. (Late 1933)	The Nazi Air Marker Hoax. Pictures of unusual shapes in farmers' fields led to fears that the Nazis were planning an air attack on the United States. (August 10, 1942)
The Master Race. The British Army created this picture of an unkempt German soldier as part of its propaganda efforts. (May 8, 1943)	Miss Perfect Profile. The head of a modeling agency added creative captions, such as "Miss Perfect Profile," to the photos of his models in order to get newspapers to print them. (ca. 1950)	Thoughtography. Ted Serios claimed he could transfer his thoughts directly onto film. Skeptics disagreed. (Gained notoriety in 1967)
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.)	Chicken McNoggin. This news photo shows a fried chicken head that really was found in a box of McDonald's Mighty Wings. (Circulating online since late 2000)	Shuttle Columbia Explosion Photos. Supposedly taken "from an Israeli satellite in space," these images were actually stills from the movie Armageddon. (Circulating online since 2003)
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