HOLIDAY GAG GIFTS
Everything from the popular Farting Santa to fake Lottery Ticket stocking stuffers.

Techniques of Fakery
There are six basic techniques of faking a photo, none of which are mutually exclusive.

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, one can adjust the color, resize details, or rotate or move details.

4: falsifying the caption. (In a sense, every fake photo has been falsely captioned.)

5: Staging the scene. This is considered fakery particularly when it occurs 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.


Categories


hoax photo database

The Hoax Photo Database catalogs examples of photo fakery throughout the history of photography, from 1840 to the present. 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. The images are listed in chronological order. They are categorized by theme, technique of fakery, and time period. Click on a thumbnail for more details. Other Viewing Options: Full Text Mode.
1840-1900 | 1900-1919 | 1920-1939 | 1940-1959 | 1960-1979 | 1980-1999 | 2000-2004 | 2005-Present
Real (but suspected of being fake)
(Return to front page of database)

The Falling Soldier
Real
September 5, 1936



Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
Real
February 23, 1945



Sinking Bus
Real
March 3, 1988



Chicken McNoggin
Real (sometimes circulates with false caption)
Circulating online since late 2000



Pike Swallows Trout
Real
Jan 22, 2001



A Sonic Boom
Real
Taken in 1999. Found online in 2001.



Camel Spiders in Iraq
Real picture, false caption
Found online, Spring 2004



Cruise vs. von Stauffenberg
Real
Controversy from June 2008



Jumping Shark
Real
July 3, 2008


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