Techniques of
Photo Fakery
Photo Fakery
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: Trick angles. The most common example of this is the use of forced perspective.
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: Trick angles. The most common example of this is the use of forced perspective.
Site Map
Photo Archive Categories
The Hoax Photo Archive
A gallery of photo fakery throughout history.
Years Archived:
1840-1900 | 1900-1919 | 1920-1939 | 1940-1959 | 1960-1979 | 1980-1999 | 2000-2004 | 2005-Present
A gallery 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
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Trophy Turkey (Thanksgiving 2003)
Newspaper captions failed to mention that the turkey Bush was holding was a decorative centerpiece not intended for consumption by the troops. ...» |
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Camel Spiders in Iraq (Found online, Spring 2004)
It's true that camel spiders are very large, but much of the information about these creatures that accompanied this picture as it went around the internet was false. ...» |
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Home Computer of the Future (First posted online September 11, 2004)
Popular Science magazine did not publish this image in 1954, predicting that it was what a home computer would look like fifty years in the future. ...» |
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Charlton Heston’s Home Gun Collection (Circulating online since Apr 2008)
This series of pictures documents a remarkable gun collection, but not that of Charlton Heston. ...» |
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“Not What You Want To See” (Circulating online since early 2008)
Two pictures were composited together to create this dramatic scene. ...» |
All text Copyright © 2011 by Alex Boese, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.