The Museum of Hoaxes
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Techniques of
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.
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
Category: Magazine Covers
The Master Race (May 8, 1943)
The British Army created this picture of an unkempt German soldier as part of its propaganda efforts. ...»
Oswald’s Backyard Photo (Published in February 1964)
Magazines that published this photo of Lee Harvey Oswald retouched portions of it, leading to suspicions that the original image itself was fake. It was not. ...»
In what became the first high-profile example of digital photo manipulation, National Geographic moved the pyramids slightly closer together to fit within the frame of the cover. ...»
Oprah’s Head Transplant (August 26, 1989)
It's Oprah Winfrey's head, but it's Ann-Margret's body. ...»
Madonna’s Gapless Glamour (December 1990)
Madonna got mad when she discovered a photo editor had digitally closed the gap between her front teeth. ...»
White Hot Mama (July 1992)
Texas Governor Ann Richards' head was pasted onto the body of a model to create this magazine cover. ...»
The Disappearing Nipples (Jan/Feb 1994)
The editors of American Photo decided they had to digitally remove Kate Moss's nipples from this cover photo "as a matter of taste." ...»
Fire on Ice (Feb 16, 1994)
Harding and Kerrigan were seen skating together on this Newsday cover, but the scene never occurred in real life. ...»
O.J.‘s Darkened Mug Shot (June 27, 1994)
Time magazine was accused of racism when it decided to use a darkened version of O.J. Simpson's mugshot on its cover. ...»
Cut-and-Paste Diversity (September 2000)
In order to highlight their school's racial diversity, University of Wisconsin-Madison officials pasted a black student's face into this crowd scene that appeared on the cover of the undergraduate application. ...»
Kate Winslet’s Legs (February 2003)
Kate Winslet complained that photo editors made her look too skinny on this GQ cover. ...»
The Real Julia (July 2003)
Julia Roberts' head was pasted onto a younger version of her body. ...»
Martha’s Last Laugh (March 2005)
Newsweek indicated nowhere on the cover that this shot was actually a composite image of Martha Stewart's head pasted onto a model's body. ...»
Photo editors at Le Figaro deleted a ring from the French justice minister's hand in order to make her appear less glamorous. ...»
All text Copyright © 2011 by Alex Boese, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.