I would say fake is accurate, as the intent is to look like the lava made it combust, which it didn’t. The flames are real, but the combustion from the lava is fake.
I think the distinction is that in a fake photo, something you can see in the photo wasn’t really there. In a staged photo, the story the photo tells isn’t true to life.
Better source:
https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/photographer-admits-to-faking-viral-lava-photographer-on-fire-photo/
The headline is unfair; the photo is staged, not fake.
I would say fake is accurate, as the intent is to look like the lava made it combust, which it didn’t. The flames are real, but the combustion from the lava is fake.
I think the distinction is that in a fake photo, something you can see in the photo wasn’t really there. In a staged photo, the story the photo tells isn’t true to life.
Also, the intent was never to deceive, but to take a cool picture