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: Photojournalism
Cannonballs were strewn across a road to enhance the drama of this melancholy war scene. ...»
Interior of the Secundra Bagh (March or April 1858)
Human bones were disinterred and scattered around to recreate the aftermath of a battle. ...»
A Sharpshooter’s Last Sleep (Taken in 1863. Exposed as a fake in 1961.)
Civil War photographers used a corpse as a movable prop. ...»
Ocean Execution (December 1913)
A vacation snapshot was creatively recaptioned to become evidence of a brutal execution scene. ...»
Mother Cat Stops Traffic (July 29, 1925)
The news photographer arrived too late to capture the original scene, so he convinced the policeman to recreate it. ...»
Arthur Rothstein was accused of using a steer's skull as a movable prop in order to exaggerate drought conditions in the Great Plains. ...»
The Falling Soldier (September 5, 1936)
Despite allegations that Robert Capa staged this famous war photo, historical research shows that he did not. ...»
The Nazi Air Marker Hoax (August 10, 1942)
Pictures of unusual shapes in farmers' fields led to fears that the Nazis were planning an air attack on the United States. ...»
The Master Race (May 8, 1943)
The British Army created this picture of an unkempt German soldier as part of its propaganda efforts. ...»
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (February 23, 1945)
This is probably the most famous photo from World War II. It was not staged, despite persistent rumors to the contrary. ...»
This photo was both staged and doctored in an attempt to create a Soviet version of the Americans' Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima image. ...»
More than thirty years after its initial publication, this famous photo by W. Eugene Smith was discovered to be two photos composited together. ...»
The Missing Pole (May 4, 1970)
An unknown photo editor decided to airbrush out the pole that was awkwardly situated behind Mary Ann Vecchio's head in the original version of this photo. ...»
Yeah Eckerd (1981)
The news photographer staged the scene by having a fan write the phrase "Yeah Eckerd" on the soles of his feet. ...»
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. ...»
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All text Copyright © 2011 by Alex Boese, except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.