It was intended to be a family photo to celebrate Mother’s Day, and to quell speculation about Kate’s health post-surgery.
But the publication of the photo of the Princess of Wales with her three children has backfired spectacularly, with the royal family taking the blame for editing it.
Great international photo agencies took the photo amid concerns “the source had manipulated the image” after people pointed out several oddities, including issues with Princess Charlotte’s sleeve, the uneven pattern on Prince Louis’ sweater and the window frame behind Prince George.
This led to more controversy as well conspiracy theories about the princess – with Kate forced to give in she had edited the photo.
Analysis of the photo’s metadata by Sky News’ data and forensics unit found that the image had been saved twice in photo editing software Adobe Photoshop on an Apple Mac – but it is unclear whether it was saved on the same device.
The first rescue was carried out on Friday evening at 9.54 pm, the second on Saturday morning at 9.39 am.
The photo was taken at Adelaide Cottage, the family’s home in Windsor, with a Canon 5D Mark IV, which retails for £2,929.99. A Canon 50mm lens was used, costing £1,629.99.
Kensington Palace said the photo was taken by Prince William.
However, it is common knowledge that Kate is the most avid photographer in the world Royal family. In June 2019 she was appointed patron of the Royal Photographic Society.
Chris Gorman, a news photographer, with 30 years of editorial experience, told Sky News that this is likely the case princess positioned the camera so William could take the photo, but then got carried away with editing the image.
Nearly all professional photographers now use so-called mirrorless cameras, he said.
A Canon 5D Mark IV is a DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera, which is still a good camera, but is a bit old technology.
“It’s the same camera I have,” he said. “I thought Kate would be on the latest camera, but that’s not the case. I felt like I stood out among my colleagues and now that I know Kate and Will are shooting with it, I don’t have to worry so much.
“That camera, even though it’s old, is a very high-quality, high-end camera. It can take first-class photos. I’m glad they didn’t take it with a phone.”
Although Kate knows her way around cameras, her Photoshop skills are clearly not as good as those of a professional, he said.
“I’m really surprised that the palace doesn’t have a professional Photoshop expert,” he said.
“What she’s tried to do is clone areas – she probably preferred Charlotte’s cover to another frame, and tried to make it look better. I suspect there was probably a little discrepancy – and she’s sitting there thinking about it and also given it a long time. So I bet if you see the original photo you would say, ‘Why did she do that?’
“It’s a can of worms. Once you start messing around like that, as a photographer you think afterwards: ‘I should have left this alone’.
“When Photoshop is mentioned by the general public, it is misunderstood: people call it fake.
‘I don’t think she tried to fake the photo, she just tried to spice it up. Unfortunately for them, they are the most scrutinized family in the world – and anything slightly different in that photo would be noticed.”
Ryan Jarvis, who has been a professional photographer for 15 years, agrees.
“I don’t understand why some of the changes were made. If you look at the window frame in the background, it doesn’t appear to be properly aligned.
“Was there anyone in the photo? Was there a group of people in the background, perhaps staff, who were causing a distraction? What was so bad about it that so many changes were needed in the first place?
“I don’t think she did anything wrong, she just wanted to edit the photo – like any professional or serious amateur would do.”
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Some additional information from the metadata retrieved via Photoshop by Sky News’ data and forensics department showed the shutter speed (1/125 sec), aperture (f/3.2) – how much light you let in, and the ISO (640) , which is the camera setting that lightens or darkens a photo, and refers to the camera sensor’s sensitivity to light.
Commenting on the exposure data, Mr Jarvis said: “I have photographed hundreds of families with young children. With children you wouldn’t want to slow down – not with children who are clearly laughing and giggling.
“If it were me, I would have doubled that speed to 1/250 just to make sure the image was sharp – and to capture that moment. The kids wouldn’t have stood still or sat still .
“If Princess Charlotte had moved her left hand very slightly just as Prince William took the photo, there would have been a slight motion blur, so it’s possible that Kate edited the photo as a result.”
He continued: “When you choose the aperture you’re essentially selecting how much of the image you want in focus, so it seems like a perfectly reasonable setting for that. The higher that number, the more the background comes into focus.
“Louis looks the sharpest, so when Prince William took the photo, the focus could have been on him instead of Kate, George and Charlotte. But that’s not unusual: Prince William is not a professional photographer.”
He added: “The ISO affects how sensitive the camera is to light. You can see it’s not the sunniest day – there are no harsh shadows on their faces. It was probably a cloudy day and so the ISO is within some I would expect it will be.”
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Mr. Gorman also described the shutter speed as “relatively slow.”
“It was quite dark conditions in which the photo was taken. I don’t think there was a flash on it,” he said.
“It’s well lit and well composed. What almost certainly happened – multiple pictures taken, kids messing around, you know how kids are, faces pulling, etc. – and she might well have said, ‘I not a perfect photo’.
“It’s possible that the original frame is out of focus and she decided to take parts of a frame from another shot and make changes.
“She sat there for too long looking and worrying about something. She had a picture and she wanted it to be absolutely perfect – studio perfect. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Mr Gorman added: “She must know to shoot from a raw file that gives the photographer the best possible quality from the camera. And that’s probably how she started the editing process.
“When you shoot a RAW file – if there is a discrepancy in the photo – it is easier to correct it if there is image blur.
“Maybe it was a jpeg she was working with.”
Kensington Palace has said it will not release the original, unedited photo.
Mr Gorman said: “If I put something in the papers, if I made any change I would have to report it, so I’m surprised.”
He added: ‘I suspect they want this all to pass quickly, and if they release the original photo the story will get more attention – and the other is that if it’s dramatically different, they’ve got problems. “