General News for the Wales Family 1: September 2022-March 2024

[Michiru-Kaiou]

Part of me hopes that Catherine and William chose a photo with Louis holding his fingers like that to mess with the online conspiracy theorists.

It is a lovely photo.

What's so strange with Louis' fingers? Because he wrapped his middle finger around his ring finger? I have hypermobile joints and I can exactly reproduce that hand/finger holding with my fingers. And no, it doesn't hurt.

I bet he, like me, can also do that:

File:Fingersnake.JPG - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

best wishes Michiru

 

[MonacoRoyalFan]

So photoshop is bad now ??

Well given all of UK media didn't use the paparazzi photo of Kate out of respect for Kensington Palace and the Royal Family, I can only imagine they'll be pretty pissed that they cant use this photo now because the palace decided to manipulate it. Not good for relations with the UK media.

 

[CrownPrincessJava]

When I looked at the photo, the first thing I noticed were skinny jeans, no engagement, wedding or eternity ring, and her hand placement were really off, like she had long arms! I have to agree that the photo looks manipulated. I get photoshop, and it is clear that most of the photos from KP have some degree of photoshop, but this one is one of their worst attempts. Feels like a collage of older photos put together

 

[akina21]

Well given all of UK media didn't use the paparazzi photo of Kate out of respect for Kensington Palace and the Royal Family, I can only imagine they'll be pretty pissed that they cant use this photo now because the palace decided to manipulate it. Not good for relations with the UK media.

If a photoagency canned all edited pictures they would end up with hardly any pictures to distribute.

 

[Somebody]

If Louis' fingers are the reason they are accusing the Palace of manipulating this picture, I sincerely question their (the press agency's) professionalism and sincerity. I can easily reproduce that same configuration. There is no reason at all for the Palace to manipulate given that they could have chosen not to share a picture or share a different one.

 

[MonacoRoyalFan]

When I looked at the photo, the first thing I noticed were skinny jeans, no engagement, wedding or eternity ring, and her hand placement were really off, like she had long arms! I have to agree that the photo looks manipulated. I get photoshop, and it is clear that most of the photos from KP have some degree of photoshop, but this one is one of their worst attempts. Feels like a collage of older photos put together

Exactly. Like clippings put together to make a coherent photo.

 

[MonacoRoyalFan]

If Louis' fingers are the reason they are accusing the Palace of manipulating this picture, I sincerely question their (the press agency's) professionalism and sincerity. I can easily reproduce that same configuration. There is no reason at all for the Palace to manipulate given that they could have chosen not to share a picture or share a different one.

There is much more than just his fingers that are off with the photo. HIs fingers may be the least of it. There is a line cutting through Kate's zipper/hair. Charlotte's hip area is off. Areas on the ground are not aligned.

 

[EllieCat]

Oh rubbish! All photos are manipulated to a certain degree; i'm a retired graphic designer having worked on hundreds of thousands of images over the years, and they're always worked on to produce the best possible image. Looks perfectly ok to me. It's possible there may have been several taken at the same time and some blended to produce the best outcome, but i'm personally sure it's a current picture of the children and their mother. All very happy as it's their dad and husband behind the camera.

 

[Saragli]

Exactly. Like clippings put together to make a coherent photo.

If William used his phone to take this than some smart phones do just this. There's an AI feature that takes a series of photos and combines them to get the "ideal" photo. Also, KP has a history of bad photo shopping, I think it was that ski photo that had a baby Charlotte with a floating head.

 

[MonacoRoyalFan]

Oh rubbish! All photos are manipulated to a certain degree; i'm a retired graphic designer having worked on hundreds of thousands of images over the years, and they're always worked on to produce the best possible image. Looks perfectly ok to me. It's possible there may have been several taken at the same time and some blended to produce the best outcome, but i'm personally sure it's a current picture of the children and their mother. All very happy as it's their dad and husband behind the camera.

Of course all public photos are edited, photoshopped, manipulated. But these agencies have a policy not to distributed photos that have been "overly edited". I would assume overly edited means manipulated to look meaningfully different than it actually does.

 

[MonacoRoyalFan]

If William used his phone to take this than some smart phones do just this. There's an AI feature that takes a series of photos and combines them to get the "ideal" photo. Also, KP has a history of bad photo shopping, I think it was that ski photo that had a baby Charlotte with a floating head.

You cant expect credible news agencies to run them as if they haven't been overly manipulated when they seemingly have.

 

[Rael]

Well given all of UK media didn't use the paparazzi photo of Kate out of respect for Kensington Palace and the Royal Family, I can only imagine they'll be pretty pissed that they cant use this photo now because the palace decided to manipulate it. Not good for relations with the UK media.

The UK media are all using the pictures. It's on all the UK front pages.

The Prince and Princess of Wales released a family picture on their social media pages for Mother's day and to thank British citizens for their support. The recipients appreciated the picture and the gesture and the UK media has used it very liberally.

The below is what I can find to be AP's reasoning which makes me doubt their professionalism and sincerity. I don't see anything amiss with Charlotte's left hand. This is a picture taken at home by a father of his family not a professional picture (which is often heavily edited anyhow).

If it doesn't meet their standards, good for them. They should remove it from their libraries. They won't sway KP to give more.

This is why I firmly support William's stance to do what he chooses to do with his family, release pictures when they choose, ignore everyone when they choose. Bad faith people will always act in bad faith so focus on your family, serve your citizens, ignore the noise. They don't owe international picture agencies anything when they are not on duty. They will still be clamouring to cover royal events because their audience clamour for the content.

Perhaps next time AP is applying for a press pass for a royal event, they should be told that the event may not be up to their standards so they shouldn't bother.

I genuinely don't see what they think they will achieve with this shenanigan.

 

[Saragli]

You cant expect credible news agencies to run them as if they haven't been overly manipulated when they seemingly have.

It seems more badly edited rather than overly manipulated to me. Which, given the current climate around the situation, was a very bad move on KPs part.

 

[MonacoRoyalFan]

It seems more badly edited rather than overly manipulated to me. Which, given the current climate around the situation, was a very bad move on KPs part.

Ah, that's probably a more accurate description and now I want to take back a bit of what I said previously!

 

[MonacoRoyalFan]

I will say -- this is still pretty damaging.

They knew there would be intense interest in any picture they released of Kate.Their challenge is that people will now question whether they can be trusted and believed when they next issue a health update.

 

[Hallo girl]

I am obviously missing something here, I thought with modern technology most photographs are edited nowadays. So why would that be unusual.

 

[Sister Morphine]

Good Lord. I joked earlier about her holding a photo of today's newspaper with the date visible, but maybe she ought to do that. It's amazing to me how KP can screw up something so simple as a picture of a mother and her children. Just take the damn picture and who cares if someone's hair isn't perfect or someone's fingers are crossed or someone's clothes aren't straightened. Risking it being labeled "manipulative" because you tried to fix stuff in Photoshop isn't worth it.

 

[akina21]

Good Lord. I joked earlier about her holding a photo of today's newspaper with the date visible, but maybe she ought to do that. It's amazing to me how KP can screw up something so simple as a picture of a mother and her children. Just take the damn picture and who cares if someone's hair isn't perfect or someone's fingers are crossed or someone's clothes aren't straightened. Risking it being labeled "manipulative" because you tried to fix stuff in Photoshop isn't worth it.

You know people will then claim they photoshopped the newspaper into the image.

 

[Rael]

I will say -- this is still pretty damaging.

They knew there would be intense interest in any picture they released of Kate.Their challenge is that people will now question whether they can be trusted and believed when they next issue a health update.

I disagree. This will just create chatter, media drama and more conspiracy theories that will fizzle out when the peddlers are tired.

KP will just go radio silent and only cover William's engagements till Catherine is ready to start engagements. They do not have to provide any health update or any thing whatsover. In fact, I hope they don't.

The truth is that AP and other international picture agencies need the Waleses more than the Waleses need them. The UK media will always cover the Waleses. They are not part of an international Monarchy but one for the British. International media cover them because their audience devour coverage of them. British royals don't owe them anything. If they don't like how the Waleses conduct themselves, they are free to stop covering them. They will not though because they are high currency. This is demonstrated by the fact that in spite of all the grenades thrown at the Waleses from across the pond, they remain very popular in the US, more than a lot of US politicians and celebrities. Their pictures remain in demand. National outlets from other countries can always license the pictures directly from UK media.

Mainstream and social media chatter and noise does not always translate to any tangible damage to reputations, particularly for the Waleses. We saw that with the whole cycle of outrage re William not going to Australia for the Women's world cup finals. There will always be these cycles with global figures like the Waleses, by the next royal event, everyone would have moved on, rinse and repeat. This is why they always take a long term view.

 

[Mbruno]

I will say -- this is still pretty damaging.

They knew there would be intense interest in any picture they released of Kate.Their challenge is that people will now question whether they can be trusted and believed when they next issue a health update.

It is a major blunder in my opinion. AP withdrawing the picture likely means that the level of manipulation goes beyond cosmetic photoshopping and might even rise to this being a fake picture altogether.

Rather than killing the speculation on Kate's health as intended, releasing a manipulated picture will now only add to it and make matters worse. It will look like KP is trying to hide something.

 

[MonacoRoyalFan]

I am obviously missing something here, I thought with modern technology most photographs are edited nowadays. So why would that be unusual.

They are but these photo agencies dont accept all photos. See below the AP's rules for example:

 

[Queen Claude]

So it was Charlotte's hand that was the issue, not Louis' entangled fingers or Kate's ringless fingers.

 

[Hallo girl]

Did we not have comments like this when the Xmas card was issued. I surrender , I give up. It is midnight here, I dread to think what the headlines will be when I get up in the morning. Night Night and may your God bless you.

 

[MonacoRoyalFan]

It is a major blunder in my opinion. AP withdrawing the picture likely means that the level of manipulation goes beyond cosmetic photoshopping and might even rise to this being a fake picture altogether.

Rather than killing the speculation on Kate's health as intended, releasing a manipulated picture will now only add to it and make matters worse. It will look like KP is trying to hide something.

And not just AP. Remember: all four major international agencies.

And just going to Getty's website, you can see that the photos they offer are incredibly different from any photo that could be photoshopped and is just pushed by an institution. It's live moments happening to accurately portray important events.

Perhaps a case of wrong agencies to handle and offer such photos that are clearly manipulated and not of live accurate important events and moments but of a produced photo being pushed out by an institution.

Another example: Getty wouldn't just offer a photo that was given to us by the Russian government regarding the invasion in Ukraine that was clearly photoshopped. But they would offer photos that are real and taken by journalistic photographers who are actually on the ground in Ukraine.

It's really a matter of real independent journalism as opposed to propaganda, for lack of a better term.

Either way -- the Windsors need a bit of help in this current world where people will investigate things themselves and not just listen to what is being fed to them. And rumor and word spreads like wildfire. Really shoddy job on their end, no way around that.

 

[Elly C]

What a mess. Let’s hope the Oscars provide the headlines and this becomes a storm in a teacup.

 

[Michiru-Kaiou]

Now, after taking closer look and seeing what the issues are... Well, I don't think the agencies' reactions have something to do with this being about the Wales family, but rather the current climate and sensibility towards artificial intelligence. I doubt this would go down well with anyone right now. There is just too much talk about AI and deep fakes right now. So, I think it's no wonder the reactions haven't been good. And for that the press department of KP, and whoever didn't tell the Prince of Wales it's not a good idea to release such a photo, did everyone involved a huge disservice.

best wishes Michiru

 

[Asteria12]

Storm in a teacup, the media obviously needed to add a bit of spice to liven up the quiet royal scene!

 

[Ista]

Number of posts have been deleted. Discussion and disagreements are fine, conspiracy theories are not. Any further posts that cross that line will be deleted.

 

[soapstar]

I took a look at the photo and seriously don’t see the problem. Most photos released by public figures have been adjusted in some way. In fact, even non-celebs use photoshop when they post family photos on social media.

Are these news agencies going to stop running every photo released by public figures now?

 

[MonacoRoyalFan]

I took a look at the photo and seriously don’t see the problem. Most photos released by public figures have been adjusted in some way. In fact, even non-celebs use photoshop when they post family photos on social media.

Are these news agencies going to stop running every photo released by public figures now?

These are photo agencies, not exactly news agencies. And they don't generally offer photos release by public figures that have been so significantly manipulated.