The Hoax Photo Archive: Magazine Covers

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

Category: Magazine Covers

The Master Race. The British Army created this picture of an unkempt German soldier as part of its propaganda efforts. (May 8, 1943)	Oswald’s Backyard Photo. 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. (Published in February 1964)	The Case of the Moving Pyramids. 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. (February 1982)
Oprah’s Head Transplant. It's Oprah Winfrey's head, but it's Ann-Margret's body. (August 26, 1989)	Madonna’s Gapless Glamour. Madonna got mad when she discovered a photo editor had digitally closed the gap between her front teeth. (December 1990)	White Hot Mama. Texas Governor Ann Richards' head was pasted onto the body of a model to create this magazine cover. (July 1992)
The Disappearing Nipples. The editors of American Photo decided they had to digitally remove Kate Moss's nipples from this cover photo "as a matter of taste." (Jan/Feb 1994)	Fire on Ice. Harding and Kerrigan were seen skating together on this Newsday cover, but the scene never occurred in real life. (Feb 16, 1994)	O.J.‘s Darkened Mug Shot. Time magazine was accused of racism when it decided to use a darkened version of O.J. Simpson's mugshot on its cover. (June 27, 1994)
Cut-and-Paste Diversity. 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. (September 2000)	Kate Winslet’s Legs. Kate Winslet complained that photo editors made her look too skinny on this GQ cover. (February 2003)	The Real Julia. Julia Roberts' head was pasted onto a younger version of her body. (July 2003)
Martha’s Last Laugh. 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. (March 2005)	Dati’s Disappearing Ring. Photo editors at Le Figaro deleted a ring from the French justice minister's hand in order to make her appear less glamorous. (Nov 19, 2008)
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