Yet another picture agency has ‘killed’ the Mother’s Day photo due to credibility issues

[Helfs]

KP PR are really not doing well with this!

Associated press
AFP
Reuters
Getty images
And now PA media have all issued picture kill notifications to their editors and publishers regarding the Mother’s Day image due to how highly edited it was

Not going to help with the conspiracy theories

I think the whole shebang is a bit weird.

why take a photo that needed editing and then release it at all? It’s only perpetuated wild conspiracy theories. Surely they have intelligent enough PR to advise them otherwise? Release a picture taken before the procedure, something from Christmas, or maybe not even a picture of them at all. In the past an image of handmade cards from the children was posted, do that again, or maybe a tribute to the queen. I really wasn’t interested before the image was released yesterday but they have made me think that they are trying to cover something.

I’m by no means an expert in photoshop, I don’t even have social media, but I could see the lines of the image were off, I immediately spotted Charlotte’s cardigan and skirt. I think Kate wanted to even out her hand and as a result sent the pixels around her into weird positions. Regardless of the intent or reason for the editing, it was obvious to an untrained eye like mine, so for the internet sleuths who spend a lot of time pouring over photoshop fails, it creates a frenzy. If they were the Sussex’s one may accuse them of being attention seeking…

You are absolutely right, I apologise.

Correction to my post:

Press Association: they suspected the photo was edited, but they decided to ask Kensington Palace for confirmation before pulling it.
At the time, Kensington Palace had not responded to the PA clarification question, PA decided to no longer publish the photo.

Yes I think this photo has the potential to be impacted by the Streisand effect

Lots of people who weren’t really fussed before are now thinking something must be up if the photo required significant levels of editing to the point it’s been classified as doctored

Why is everyone accepting that the statement came from Kate? Anyone actually see her write it?

See I get that but photoshopping your kids' sleeves and skirt is odd isn't it? No idea why she did that. Especially so clunkily!

Bizarre that images so obviously photoshopped (especially to anyone who works in the media) were approved to be shared on their socials.

It's not like she snaps and posts to Instagram like a regular person, surely there are layers of approvals involved.

All really weird!

I do not for a second believe that she did the editing and made the statement. It's possible that she agreed to make the statement to quieten the blowout. Wrong move. I don't think anyone would believe that RF are editing their own pictures and managing their own social media accounts.

@aliceinthecities

I do not for a second believe that she did the editing and made the statement. It's possible that she agreed to make the statement to quieten the blowout. Wrong move. I don't think anyone would believe that RF are editing their own pictures and managing their own social media accounts.

I agree. I think that perhaps people who don't work in press / PR / publicity don't realise how many layers of collaboration and approvals are involved before something is posted on the page of someone globally famous.

🤯

I think because it’s such a blunder she is having to say it’s her, even if it’s not true.

I think it’s made them look a bit like desperate fools, so keen to have their picture in the paper. There was no need to release a picture at all, I am vaguely aware of the bonkers theories, but surely it’s better to say nothing if she is still unwell. Really daft.

The Palace have previously told us that tweets or messages signed “C” or “W” comes from Catherine and William personally, not their press team. Once again, this can’t be proven of course.

Regarding the rings there are other photos of her without them when she is out and about. It's not unusual to not wear rings, I don't wear mine.

Huh? How has anything they've done indicate a huff? The press listed have very clear guidelines that apply to all photos. This one falls outside the guidelines because of the high degree of editing. The press has done nothing but stick to their well publicised guidelines. Why are you so desperate to protect these people that you are prepared to attack everyone else?

(I don’t got a minute think that convention means that the royal in question gets handed a device to type as they see fit, by the way! It does however mean that they are happy that messages so signed will be personally attributed to them)

@YetMoreNewBeginnings

And there it is. The issue is they’re in a huff with the way William wants to do things.

There what is? You've just used something random MNer @Serenster has opined and used it as proof of something. That's not how things work.

Yeah the ring wasn’t necessarily a red flag for me, if you are recovering from surgery at home and spent most the day in your scruffs there’s a chance you won’t be wearing a huge expensive diamond.

I do think and I’m becoming one of those nutters in the internet, that she photoshopped her hand, hence the out of position hair, cardigan and skirt on Charlotte. Maybe it’s because it’s bruised from a cannula, or looks thin, I don’t know, but it looks to me like the hand was the source of the editing.

The posters saying that news agencies don't allow any editing etc. How many times can you ever call a 'kill' notification ever being released for a photograph of this type. I cannot recall a single one. It is unprecedented.

They are making a clear statement - do not send us clearly fabricated/doctored photographs and expect us to circulate them as genuine. We will play the game to a certain extent but won't be party to deception. That to me is the message that is being sent.

There are calls for the original - the original will never appear because it will be radically different to the picture provided.

I agree. I think that perhaps people who don't work in press / PR / publicity don't realise how many layers of collaboration and approvals are involved before something is posted on the page of someone globally famous.

100%. Everything is initially closely scrutinised and curated to be ‘on brand’ before being signed off through various channels.

Even if their tweets are their words - they will have been through a robust approval process.

Is this Kate’s first tweet since her operation?

Yes, I also wondered if the hand was the cause of the bad photoshopping of the cardigan as it was very near, there would be no reason surely to photoshop a child's cardigan. Could the hand be from another photo because there were certainly some others without rings

Agree.

If it was an innocent "couldn't get all the kids smiling at the same time" sort of thing, she would have tweeted a comically bad original photo with Louis making a funny face or whatever and a joking "I edited the original to avoid this hahaha" type comment.

For whatever reason, they substantially doctored the original. And that seems spectacularly poor judgement on their part. I guess money can't buy common sense

She’s probably edited her hand because it has a cannula in it or something. Which has knocked out other parts of the photo. It’s clearly an amateur job so I don’t doubt she did it herself. The pros wouldn’t be this messy!

Prince Harry said William signed his name to a statement he'd never seen

I heard AI can't do hands properly. Probably also explains Louis ' weird finger crossing

@PerfectYear321

That doesn't really surprise me. Bad practice of course but I think that with my media relations hat on I would be more shocked to find a statement came from a royal without the palace PR team's final approval than to find a statement came from the palace PR machine without the individual's final approval.

This is getting so bizarre...

As someone who worked in PR/the media for years there is no way that Kate would do her own editing and randomly post/release an amateur picture on Mothers' Day especially at a time when they know perfectly well that there has been a lot of scrutiny and speculations lately.

They knew full well everything would be picked up by news agency.

The protocol means that anything would have gone through the approval of their press office and any image enhancement (making the colour/lighting more vibrant) would have been done by a professional.

To think over wise is naive.

If you think members of the Royal Family can just put things out without respecting protocol you have not been paying attention. Everything is regulated and this is a huge fail from their comms team.

But no rings in photos posed for the intention of global release? Nah.