The two recent standouts for me are the Trindade Island Photo and the Belgian Wave infamous Triangular Craft nightime photo which both Almiro Barauna and 'Patrick' confessed to their respective hoaxes. Barauna had faked a treasure trove earlier in his photographic career and the very famous UFO photo seen below was supposedly two spoons he had previously shot indoors against a neutral background. The UFO confession though is 3rd party reporting.
forgetomori » Trindade Island case photographer admits hoax
'Patrick,' however actually produced other slides from the same series and even explained the numerous attempts to create this image using a small scale model with plastics. What's quite interesting about this image is that numerous experts verified this photo, though skeptics long contended that without any background image reference there was no way to determine scale. Their assumption that it could easily have been a model was proven correct. Chalk one up for those evil mongrels, or villains or whatever the skeptics get branded. I appreciate their diligence but wish some would not froth so much at the mouth, the way that conspiracists also can't help from getting all worked up most of the time.
Finding out that both these iconic photos were faked was a series of landmark disappointments for me. I wonder sometimes if it's even possible to take a picture of a UFO.
What's a fascinating twist to it all is the great gift of skepticism: it's ability to reinvent reality. When I was looking for the original article that identified great details about how the Petit Rechain photo was faked in an interview with anonymous 'Patrick' I found this article instead, examining whether or not the confessed hoax was also a hoax.
Is the Petit Rechain UFO Photo Hoax a Hoax Itself? | Martin J. Clemens
Here's the original article I read documenting the case:
CAELESTIA Triangles over Belgium (addendum)