After possible image manipulation, Kate Middleton spoke: She sometimes experiments with photo editing. How do photography agencies deal with this?
The covers of British tabloids with the criticized and retracted photo of March 11 Photo: Alastair Grant/ap
LONDON taz | A family photo greeting British Mother's Day of Princess Kate Middleton and her three children on Sunday caused a stir in the following days. Following accusations of possible image manipulation by several photo agencies, Princess Kate speaks out in a statement.
After a day of silence on the matter, the Princess announced on Monday that, like many amateur photographers, she sometimes experiments with photo correction and apologized for the confusion caused by the family photo.
The photo reportedly taken by Prince William, in which Middleton, 42, and the children smile happily at the camera on a garden terrace, was the first official family photo following Middleton's abdominal surgery in January. British Mother's Day photos are a tradition for royals, which is why the photo was posted again on Sunday this year.
But the agencies Reuters, Getty, Agence France Press (AFP), Associate Press (AP), EPA, Shutterstock and Press Agency (PA) removed the photo with the so-called murder notice on Sunday. They justified their decision by stating that the photo had been altered.
And in fact, if you look closely, you can easily detect traces of this, for example in the sleeve of Princess Charlotte's sweater, a distortion of part of her skirt and the disappearance of hair on one side, as well as changes in Princess Kate's own hair. A zipper also appears in the wrong place.
Photoshop only in moderation
The AP cited photo manipulation as the reason for the murder tip. AP is committed to the accuracy of its sources and does not use doctored images. Reuters cited the unevenness of Princess Charlotte's sweater as the reason. According to Reuters guidelines, Photoshop software should only be used to a limited extent. They are only used for cutting and balancing colors.
AP further stated that changes to resolution, contrast, colors and saturation levels that would materially alter the original photo would not be accepted. This also includes digitally hiding or excluding backgrounds, “aggressive toning,” as well as red-eye removal.
The media argued on Monday about how the princess had edited the images. Some even believed that artificial intelligence had been applied.
A Sky News expert said that after examining the metadata, he discovered that the photo had been downloaded into Photoshop twice on an Apple and was taken with a Canon 5D Mark IV camera with a 50 millimeter lens. This is not a cheap company. The value of the camera and lens alone is estimated at more than 5,000 euros. It still doesn't seem to have been true hobby photography that everyone can afford.
Growing speculation about Kate's health
On Monday morning, all the talk on British talk shows was about the manipulated image. Unlike King Charles, who publicly announced that she was receiving cancer treatment, Princess Catherine had not revealed any details about her surgery beyond saying that it was in the abdominal area. This has already caused rumors to circulate since her procedure about what was happening to her. After the doctored photo, speculation about the princess grew enormously. Some suspected that the princess might not be well.
At least AFP republished the photo, but circled the doctored parts in red. In December there were already rumors about a Christmas photograph of the family heir to the throne, in which little Prince Louis was missing a finger and experts wanted to identify unnatural postures.
Natural and unmanipulated was the photo that was finally taken of Kate and William on Monday night: a shadow of the two behind the mirrored windows in the back seat of their car driving away. The doctored family photo can still be admired on Kates and Williams' Instagram account.