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.
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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
Category: Humor
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The Sympsychograph (September 1896)
Supposedly a psychic projection of "a cat in its real essence." Intended as a joke, but taken seriously by many. ...» |
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A Bear and its Hunters (ca. 1900)
A humorous example of a staged scene. ...» |
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Pacific Sea Monster (1906)
Men in Ballard, Washington pose with a sea serpent that looks suspiciously like a log. ...» |
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William ‘Dad’ Martin’s Freak Postcards (1909-1910)
Martin made a fortune selling "freak" postcards that featured midwesterners interacting with oversized animals and vegetables. ...» |
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The Melon Party (1911)
In order to create this postcard of children eating a giant watermelon, photographer Alfred Stanley Johnson used wooden props. ...» |
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The Nest of a Fatu-Liva (1921)
An image of square eggs satirically proves that the camera never lies. ...» |
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High-Pressure Hijinks (ca. 1923)
It is unlikely that water pressure alone is keeping this soldier suspended in air. ...» |
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Raised Runway (Undated. Possibly from the 1920s.)
An April Fool's day image shows a raised runway in a German city. ...» |
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Wisconsin’s Capitol Collapses (April 1, 1933)
An April Fool's Day image of the Wisconsin state capitol collapsing due to an excess of gas generated by verbose debate. ...» |
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Lung-Powered Flying Machine (April 1, 1934)
This April Fool's day image of a new method of flying fooled many, including the New York Times. ...» |
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Whopper Hoppers (circa 1935)
Giant grasshoppers were particularly popular subjects for tall-tale postcards during the 1930s. ...» |
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Snowball the Monster Cat (Circulating online since early 2000)
Cordell Hauglie never anticipated that this picture of him holding a digitally enlarged version of his family cat would become one of the most popular images on the internet. ...» |
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Manitoba Home Security (Found online in 2003)
A digital composite makes it appear that polar bears are relaxing outside someone's house. ...» |
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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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Migrant Mother Makeover (April 2005 issue of Popular Photography)
Popular Photography's readers were outraged when the magazine ran a feature on how Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother photo could be improved. ...» |
All text Copyright © 2011 by Alex Boese, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.