To not understand the fuss about this photo?

[beeonmybonnett]

Why is it all over the news about the Princess of Wales’ photograph being “manipulated “ (I assume that means it was photoshopped)

Am I missing something or have the media just lost the plot? It’s a photo? Who cares if she made some changes to it? I’m not sure how that makes our lives any different. Quite frankly, I find it absurd that this is even being given airtime when there’s much more important issues to be concerned about e.g. Gaza/Israel, Ukraine and cost of living!

The media agencies only allow very limited changes (change to tone, removal of dust etc). They have strict rules around manipulation of images by photoshopping. This is why their images are trusted by companies around the world.

It's clear from the issues with this image (Charlotte's jumper sleeve, Charlotte's skirt, Kate's blurred hand etc) that significant photo shopping changes have been made. No media agency worth its name would have accepted the image without comment.

That agreement applies to the children, not Kate and William, as we have seen the media print the images of Kate with her mum several days ago and the image of Kate leaving Windsor yesterday.

You don't think it would be relevant if your future head of state and future head of the church of England (Prince William) is proven to be dishonest? If he is proven to have deliberately lied to mislead the public?

This isn't minor tweaks to make those in the photo look a bit more attractive or to cover blemishes. This is manipulation to the extent that the image is not a reliable record of what it purports to show.

Personally I think Catherine should be able to have time off work to recover and shouldn't have to appear in public if she doesn't feel ready but the Royal Family and their staff should not be dishonest and attempt to mislead the press and public.

A bit. But his role as head of state and head of the church is largely figurative so I'm largely uninterested in his character.

Faking a photo does make him look less trustworthy but that only makes him look even less important to me.

I agree with you OP. There are much more concerning matters going on in the world to worry about if a picture of a mother and her children has been photo-shopped.
Most pictures of celebrities and people in the public eye are edited. At the end of the day, does it really matter?

Tabloid press and respected news agencies are completely different sides of the media, it’s the news agencies who have taken a stance on this, as they would on any image that questioned their integrity.

Whether or not you specifically care about this particular picture, integrity in the press overall is more and more important these days when images can be so easily be manipulated.

Otherwise what’s to stop manipulated/entirely fake AI images to be published about ‘more concerning matters’? It’s a matter of principle and I’m glad at least some exists somewhere in the media.

There's rules in photography when it comes to publishing. Only certain adjustments can be made and these rules were broken. You obviously don't understand because your not a photographer.

Well, they already do post any old shite, and we believe it. Don't see the difference.

Oh my lord this thread is like talking to a child!

Well, they already do post any old shite, and we believe it. Don't see the difference

at least read some of the key points. News outlets such as AP do NOT publish doctored images. Full stop.

🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥🤥🫨

Reliable, believable news sources? Good luck with that.

Ok its not just a photograph. My sweet.
The Princess has not been publicly seen in many weeks and the rumour mongers are getting severe.
So : the best way to describe this to someone in a utopian comfort - zone is:
Imagine Princess Kate really has succumbed to a terrible demise and the public as re demanding PROOF OF LIFE.....
The Royal Family issued a photo to put everyones mind at rest ......Except ITS NOT A REAL PHOTOGRAPH!!!!!!!!! ITS DOCTORED FROM MANY PHOTOS FROM THE PAST!!!!!!!!!!

As a wedding photographer I'm often asked to tweak images, teeth, hair, sculpting etc, my clients don't tell the papers that their enfagement/wedding pics are tweaked

Do you photoshop people in who were never actually ever at the wedding? Because that's what we're talking about, at least that's what people think happened.

KP issued the photo to media houses saying it was taken last week by Willy.
It's a lie. It wasn't taken last week nor was it a "photo snapped/taken". It's an amalgamation of at least two photos and not a depiction of last week.

As much as the British Media are happy to kowtow to the RF this isn't the same for international media whom they sent the photos to. If it were the Royal Rota, they would've gotten away with it.

The AP is a reputable news agency, not a tabloid or general broadcaster. They provided news for general media.

KP can't produce the original photo cos there isn't any such and they can't hurriedly put one together cos Kate's face can't be shown for at least another week. So AP had to issue a "kill order" as it was deceptive narrative they'd been given. In fact the AP could sue the RF for attempting to destroy their business if not for the fact that Kate apologized publicly.

Mother's day photos will usually have her engagement ring showing but even that is missing. Kate lives in Windsor with the children so that doesn't preclude her from taking a photo with them.

Kate's undergrad thesis was in photography of children and the Victorian era.
So for someone who studied photography in university, who has been praised as a fantastic photographer by most British papers to amalgamate different photos into one as a "proof of life" news update from her royal office staffed to the hilt means it was simply impossible to get a recent photo of them together.

Ofcourse there're loads of photos of Kate and the kids but foremost on their mind is that she can't be seen yet but they also wanted to continue deceiving the public she's well by way of a recently taken a photo so they created one digitally.

The king decades older, dealing with cancer on the other hand is well enough to record a video message for the commonwealth service.

Some people just don’t understand how big of an issue it really is. I agree too that the King is in his 70s being treated for cancer and yet was able to make that video. Obviously it may have been filmed before his treatment started but still it’s a damn sight better than the collage KP tried to pass off as genuine as prof Kate was getting better.

Can you explain what was done to the last picture of the Queen?

As others have repeatedly pointed out, news agencies permit only very minor edits to photographs. No doubt the RF are extremely aware of this and that they’d try and pass of a significantly edited image as a true one should not be acceptable, regardless of the circumstances (and particularly as deep fake technology becomes more sophisticated).

If they wanted to do just a nice, airbrushed Mother’s Day pic, they should be releasing it through their own channels or via magazines or tabloids.

Passing it to news agencies, as a factual image to show how well Kate is doing (in response to rumours) is deliberately misleading. The fact that they have refused to produce an unedited photo does seem to suggest that the image was highly edited.

I hope the reason behind the deception is simply that Kate is not looking her best and personally felt self conscious about that. I’m not inclined to believe the more salacious rumours but the RF have certainly fanned the flames.

Paddington was superimposed in.

😂😂

A bit like MN then!

That's what people are saying, but it's not proven to be fact is it? Just seems like a lot of conspiracy theorists talking daft to me.

The only thing I've been aware of is that there is a perception if you alter an original image you can avoid copyright laws, which is false.
People have been editing/manipulating images for decades, and news outlets have been publishing them. It's indicative of today's society that this has all been treated as a cover up/conspiracy etc, and yes, I'm a photographer.

The kill notice strongly suggests it is.

And there are lots and lots and lots of (visible) clues that that is what happened.

Sorry - haven't read whole thread - but i thought certain different changes to the photo (not to do with leaves) cast doubt about when it was taken. Possibly actually taken late last year.

The fact that PW had stated it was taken last week, and the whole purpose of it's release was to supposedly show how Catherine is now, meant it caused the agency to pull it because it risked being too far into 'misleading'.