Photoshopped pictures with departed loved ones?

[IsTheRecyclingOut]

Quite understand people are different, but this seems odd to me - why would you want a picture that looks real with a deceased relative?

Could someone one please swap the woman for the gentleman in the picture with my children, sadly he passed before he could meet his grandkids and would love a picture of all of them

Well, their body was there, but it’s not quite the same, especially if they’re propped up with one of those vices around the back of the head to keep them upright.

Pretty much most of other people's lives and choices in general.

It’s not for me, but if it brings someone else some happiness, comfort or whatever, then that’s a good thing, There is no harm in it, so although I don’t really understand it, I don’t have to understand everything.

No, I can’t, and I have experienced several extremely traumatic bereavements of close relatives. Faking a photo of my dead dad holding my baby or giving me away at a wedding that actually happened thirty years after his death would be weird beyond belief.

Not something I'd do personally but each to their own.

What the heck? Is that a thing? Sounds like something from a horror movie.

Agree, any photoshopped picture you're pretending is real is really weird.

Do people who think this is a perfectly normal thing to do also think the Charlie Kirk AI-generated videos of him walking around in heaven hand in hand with Jesus are all totally non-weird too?

You’re not serious…?

That those videos exist exist? Or that it’s equivalent?

I contemplated starting a thread about this recently, OP, but didn’t want to face the backlash I knew it would inevitably incur. I don’t agree with it, but understand it brings comfort to others.

I have experienced the loss of a close family member, so know how painful it is when they are absent for family events etc. But part of the grieving process is accepting the fact they won’t be present during these times, and finding other ways of remembering them instead.

I also wonder how it would be confusing for someone looking back at old photos in several years time, and they can’t work out why Grandma is in the family photo, but she died 30 years previously.

It wouldn't be for me personally but, being bereaved can make you slightly insane.
I have a tiny urn containing some of DH's ashes and often pop him in my pocket so he can come for a walk with me.
Sadly, it's the nearest I get these days, to holding his hand. 😥
Whatever helps is my motto, providing you're not harming yourself or anyone else.

My understanding is that these so called photographs of "dead" people made to look like they're still alive in Victorian times is one of those great Internet myths that has grown wings. Apparently the vast majority of them show living people, who look stiff and lifeless simply because they've been standing or sitting so long with a fixed expression on their face, waiting for the lengthy exposure. This would explain the clamps and stands to stop the subjects from moving and causing the image to blur. I understand that when people were photographed after death back then, it was usually obvious, as they would usually be shown lying in bed or a cot etc. surrounded by flowers. The exceptions would be if an unidentified person had been found dead, so photographed as much as possible as if in life, in the hope that they might be identified. That said, I'm not 100% certain on all this, and would love if someone could verify it either way. If this is even possible, maybe it isn't.

Creepy or not (and I think it is) what really bothers me is that with my own DC I know full well that many of their 'memories' of events, people and places are actually derived from photographs. They recall events they couldn't possibly remember or weren't even at, because they've grown up with pictures of them. I myself sometimes wonder if my recollection of events from decades ago are wholly reliable, or are in part also made up from photos and discussions with others.

I have to agree. My maternal grandfather died before I was born, and both my third DC's paternal grandparents died before she was born. Not a chance would I have wanted photos faking us or them together, but that's just me.

People have been doing this for centuries (except obviously it was portraits rather than photographs. I seem to remember a Henry VIII one and or it could have been one of the George's).

I wouldn't do it personally - mostly because they look dreadful - but I can see why you might, to acknowledge that they were part of your journey. In the same way I'm about to enquire about a gravestone repair for some long dead ancestors who no-one living has ever met.

It's not for me but I don't think it's weird if anyone else finds it comforting.

My brother never got to meet my children, and a fake image of him with them would break my heart even more.

It isn't just you.

As others have said, for most people, a photograph is a record of something that actually happened. As soon as you start faking them, nothing is certain or real anymore. It devalues real memories.

For some reason these photoshop pages are prolific in my Facebook feed and I also find that particular request odd. I’d have dearly loved my DS to meet my DGrandfather that he shares a name with, but I can’t imagine what comfort a fake image of them together would bring me. Each to their own though I suppose.

"It isn't just you" I know, I just meant I can only speak for myself on this. I'm sure my mum would have loved for her father, whom she adored, and who died when she was just turned 22, and my DB was three months old, to have lived long enough to hold me as a baby. But not a chance would she have countenanced a mocked up photo - she would have felt it an insult to his memory. Same with my DD3 and DH's parents.

It is not the same at all!
The photo thing isn’t something I would do but would never judge how someone grieves.
A teddy with the voice is totally different! That voice might have filled your life for years on end and you miss it every day. That voice might bring comfort and be another way of feeling close to them.
Moral of the story, let people grieve in peace!

I don’t mind the roadside things, until they become dead rotting flowers and deflated balloons, disintegrating and blowing away just in time to repeat the process on the next anniversary. There’s one near us where I believe a young person died and it’s maintained all the time, fresh pot plants and a couple of little gnomes. Harms nobody and I hope it brings a bit of comfort to their loved ones.

I wouldn't do it because I would know it wasn't real and I think it would upset me more knowing that.

However, thankfully I'm not in that position so I can never say for sure what I would do unless it happened.

They aren't harming anybody if it's just for personal reflection so up to them what they do.

I also find it really weird. Especially the wedding ones with a deceased person. They weren’t there. What’s the point?

It's not a new thing. Even Henry VIII had a portrait painted of him, his son aged about 8 and Jane Seymour who died just after giving birth to that son.