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.


Themes


Time Periods
hoax photo database

Category: Photojournalism
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Fire on Ice
Fake (composite)
Feb 16, 1994



The Disappearing Coke Can
Deleted detail
March 31, 1989



The Case of the Moving Pyramids
Fake (digitally altered)
February 1982



Yeah Eckerd
Staged
1981



The Missing Pole
Deleted detail
May 4, 1970



Dr. Schweitzer in the Congo
Composite image
1954



Red Army Flag Over Reichstag
Fake (staged & doctored)
May 2, 1945



Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
Real
February 23, 1945



The Master Race
False caption
May 8, 1943



The Nazi Air Marker Hoax
Real pictures, falsely captioned
August 10, 1942



The Falling Soldier
Real
September 5, 1936



The Perambulating Skull
Staged
May 1936



Mother Cat Stops Traffic
Staged Scene
July 29, 1925



Ocean Execution
False caption
December 1913



A Sharpshooter’s Last Sleep
Staged Scene
Taken in 1863. Exposed as a fake in 1961.


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