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
Category: Imagining Disaster
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Tourist Guy (Circulating online since September 2001.)
Created by a Hungarian man as a bit of dark humor to share with his friends, this photo became one of the most widely viewed images online in the weeks after 9/11. ...» |
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Shuttle Columbia Explosion Photos (Circulating online since 2003)
Supposedly taken "from an Israeli satellite in space," these images were actually stills from the movie Armageddon. ...» |
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Louis Vuitton Designer SARS Mask (April 2003)
The fashion designer never actually included a SARS mask in any of its collections. ...» |
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The Great Blackout of 2003 (Found online in late August 2003)
This fake photo circulated widely in the days following the Great Blackout of 2003. ...» |
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Tsunami Seen From a High-Rise (Appeared online in early January 2005)
This photo supposedly showed a scene from the devastating Asian tsunami of December 2004, but the city in the picture is Antofagasta, Chile. ...» |
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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.