After all the hyperventilating over the photoshopped photograph of Kate Middleton and her three children, the media have unearthed another photograph that she had purportedly taken earlier of the late Queen and her great grandchildren that apparently was also altered in 19 different places.
What I do not get is that, as far as I know, it is not being alleged that entire people were inserted into the photo or removed, so that the photograph is no longer a reasonably accurate historical record of an event. The changes are so tiny that I cannot see them even after they have been pointed out. Why would anyone bother to make such minute changes? Even though the changes are infinitesimally small, it would seem to me that it would take a lot of skill and effort to make them. I know that I would not have the ability to do it. So what would be the point of doing this?
It is possible , I suppose, that entire people were inserted into the photograph and these almost invisible discrepancies are evidence of that. But the discrepancies are all over the photo. So was the entire photograph a photoshopped construction? Again, why bother? It is only a family photograph, after all, not a photograph of a political gathering that analysts pore over to see who who is in or out as an indicator of their political fortunes.
Even for those like me who tend to give news about the British royal family a miss, this particular puzzle intrigues me. not so much because of who it is about (though that is undoubtedly why is has created such a media frenzy), but because of the sheer pointlessness of it. I just cannot fathom any plausible motive for the alterations.
My guess is it was done just to get a nice picture. You take a 10 shots of the family. Some people have their best smile in shot #2, but others have funny faces or blinked. Others have their best look in shot #5, etc. So you combine everyone’s best look into one. Plus there might be stray hairs or wrinkled clothes you want to get rid of. Unfortunately, they were a bit sloppy so the alterations show. I think trying to get a nice picture is plenty motivation to do a bit of Photoshopping.
I did the same for a recent family Christmas photo. Brother-in-law took one photo, then swapped and someone else took another. Photoshopped him back into the photo (I’m sure I left plenty of evidence of the fakery).
But I agree: Who cares? But then again that’s my reaction to most things related to the Royals so its probably just the typical over inflation of everything they do.
There are ads currently running in Australia for a mobile phone whose camera software will do this for you, if you want.
I’ve done it- removing “red eye,” tweaking the contrast in a shadowed area, etc. No big deal.
Why would anyone bother to make such minute changes?
To hide the fact that Kate Middleton is an alien shapeshifter, and she grew the wrong number of fingers for the photo shoot. Sorta like Stitch.
Raging Bee @ 4
I knew it. David Icke was right all along!
BTW a society where David Icke has an audience is also a society where a single photo can trigger conspiracy theories by the dozen.
Since the tory press have no political accomplishments to brag about, the Royal Family has to fill the empty hole in people’s perception of authority.
Thanks to king prince Charles and prince Andrew the royal family is not regarded with the same fawning subservience as before but you can always polish the image, literally in this case.
They do it because it’s PR, not a historical record
A friend was going on and on about this and I asked her why; it’s pointless nonsense. She said that was the point--right now, all the news is so bad and worrisome, so it was something trivial to laugh over: someone’s bad Photoshopping is a mental vacation.
I take Katydid’s point @8, but I still have no interest in the lifestyles of rentiers and the infamous.
@Bill Seymour, 9: I also have no interest, but the MSM is apparently gaga over the topic. And it’s not like anyone was looking to hire her as a graphics artist or photographic touch-up tech--she’s got a cushy gig freeloading off the British public.
I’m playing for her chemo.
Paying, ffs.
sonofrojblake, you’re paying for many other people’s chemo, too. NHS and all that.
I would not mind the chemo costs as long as every cancer patient can get it.
It is those palaces and helicopter rides that are problematic. And Andrew makes me think fondly of Mme Guillotine.
Latest news: Kate has just announced she’s been diagnosed with cancer, and her recent absence has been for medical appointments.
Tabloid conspiracy buffs: “That’s just a cover story to make us look like stoopid small-minded meanies and discredit our brave heroic pursuit of The Truth!!!”