as Controversy over the photo around Kate Middleton As growth continues, new details emerge about the timing of file modifications Family photo That was later International news agencies backed away from it Amid fears of being “tampered with”.
The original file of the modified image Kate, Princess of WalesThe image, which was shared on social media on Sunday, shows that the image was processed twice in Adobe Photoshop.
According to the file's metadata, obtained by ABC News, the image was processed in Photoshop first on March 8, at 9:54 p.m. local time, and again on March 9, at 9:39 a.m. local time.
Kate shared the photo on Mother's Day in the UK, along with a message thanking people for their “well wishes and continued support”. Recovering from abdominal surgery. Before the photo, Kate had not been seen in an official capacity since Christmas Day.
Kate signed the post X with the letter “C”, for her full name, Catherine, indicating that she had personally signed the letter.
Image Source For the photo, Kate is seen smiling Surrounded by her three childrengiven to Kate's husband, Prince William.
Only hours after the photo was shared on social media and distributed by Kensington Palace in London and several international news agencies I backed away from the picture. One agency, The Associated Press, told ABC News in a statement on Sunday that it had retracted the photo “because upon closer examination, the source appears to have manipulated the photo in a way that does not meet AP's photo standards. The photo shows an inconsistency in the alignment of the princess's left hand.” “Charlotte.”
An ABC News review of the original file of the photo sent by Kensington Palace shows that the photo was taken on a Canon 5D Mark IV using a Canon 50mm lens. Visually, the image is the same as the image posted on social media.
It is not clear whether a single computer or multiple computers were used to process the image through Photoshop.
Monday, Kate He issued an apologywrites on
However, the apology, which was also signed with Kate's first letter, “C,” did little to quell the controversy.
On Thursday, an official at one of the news agencies that retracted the photo told Agence France-Presse: He told BBC Radio News Kensington Palace is no longer considered a reliable source for the agency.
“No, definitely not,” said Phil Chetwynd, director of global news at AFP. “As with anything, when the source lets you down, the bar is raised.”
According to Chetwynd, issuing a “kill notice” for an image based on manipulation is very rare.
At the same time, conspiracy theories continued to spread online about Kate's health and well-being, with some people wondering if Kate's face had been doctored in the photo from another photo shoot.
Most royal experts and visual verification experts alike seem to agree that the edit in Kate's Mother's Day photo looks simple, and likely nothing more than an effort by the mother to make herself and her children look as good as possible.
Hani Farid, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, told ABC News earlier this week that his analysis of the image shows “simple manipulation,” and there is no evidence that it is an image generated by artificial intelligence.
“I think it's more likely that it's either bad Photoshop, for example, to remove a stain on a jacket, or it's the result of on-camera compositing that stitches multiple photos together to get a photo where everyone is smiling,” Freed said. . “Either way, I think it is unlikely that this is more than a relatively minor manipulation of the image.”
But questions remain about how and why the palace, William and Kate got into such a controversy, and why they remained silent.
There has been no further comment from the palace nor from William and Kate on the matter since Kate's apology on Monday.
ABC News' Kerem Inal contributed to this report.