The Hoax Photo Archive: Photojournalism

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: Photojournalism

The Disappearing Coke Can. An editor digitally removed a Coke can from this front-page image because he felt it ruined the composition of the photo. (March 31, 1989)	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)
The Lackawanna Shooter. A New York Times photographer was accused of staging this photo "like a fashion shoot." (Published Sep 20, 2002)	British Soldier in Basra. This digital composite slipped past the editors of the LA Times and ran on the paper's front page. (Created March 29, 2003.)	Trophy Turkey. Newspaper captions failed to mention that the turkey Bush was holding was a decorative centerpiece not intended for consumption by the troops. (Thanksgiving 2003)
Islamic Hostage Action-Figure Hoax. Hostage "John Adam," whose photo appeared on internet bulletin boards used by Iraqi rebels, turned out to be a Cody action-figure doll. (February 1, 2005)	“Qinghai-Tibet railway opens green passage for wildlife”. This award-winning Chinese photo appeared to show the peaceful co-existence of antelope with a new high-speed train. Unfortunately the photo was a digital composite. (Published in 2006. Debunked in 2008.)	Fake Smoke Over Beirut. A freelance photographer heightened the drama of this image distributed by Reuters by adding additional smoke. (August 5, 2006)
Katie Couric Slimmed Down. A digitally slimmed down version of Katie Couric appeared in CBS's Watch magazine. (September 2006)	Giant Tomatoes. Forced perspective makes these tomatoes look enormous. (February 6, 2007)	Sarkozy’s Disappearing Love Handles. Paris Match was accused of pandering to French President Nicolas Sarkozy when it reduced the size of his love handles in this photo of him canoeing with his son. (August 2007)
M.C. Escher Golf. A surreal effect of impossible geometry may have been caused by the use of a telephoto lens to take this picture. (Taken Aug 18, 2006. Published June 2008)	Fox Airs Faux Photos. Fox News aired pictures of New York Times staffers that had been digitally altered to make the men appear less attractive. (July 2, 2008)	The Missile Launcher Vanishes. The Iranian government pasted a missile into this photo, apparently in an attempt to conceal the failure of one of the missiles to launch. (July 9, 2008)
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