Perhaps you saw the relentless news coverage about what they called shameful photo editing by the Princess of Wales.
“British monarch rocked by bad Photoshop job,” one headline read.
“Kate Middleton photo scandal,” cried another.
Apparently, the princess altered the photo the Prince of Wales had taken of her and the kids.
Shortly after the image was shared publicly, the world’s biggest wire agencies, like The Associated Press, Getty and Reuters issued retraction alerts instructing media outlets to not use the image or, if they had, pull them, citing “manipulation.”
Frankly, I’m not sure what all the fuss was about, since only minor touch-ups were made such as the one to Princess Charlotte’s sweater sleeve. No alterations were made to faces.
Yet everyone was in an uproar.
Perhaps I never saw it as such a big deal because I’ve been having fun editing photos for decades.
Even before Adobe’s Photoshop program was released back in 1988, I was busy engineering pictures.
When Queen Elizabeth announced she would be visiting San Diego back in 1983, the newspaper I was writing for at the time published my letter to Her Royal Majesty inviting her to my home to meet my family and allow me to escort her around town.
I received a nice reply from the queen’s secretary at Buckingham Palace thanking me for the invitation and informing me the queen was looking forward to her visit.
I shared that reply with my readers insisting it was verification that the queen had accepted my invitation.
But on the unlikely chance she would be unable to fulfill that commitment, I had a talk with my editor about a backup plan.
So the newspaper arranged to have a company prepare a life-size cardboard cutout of the queen, and have a photographer follow us around town as we disco danced at a night club, picked avocados at a local grove, and enjoyed bagels and tea at my house.
The newspaper published the photos on the same day the queen arrived.
“And you didn’t think she’d really come,” the headline read.
It was a few years later that Photoshop was introduced and my editing skills became all the more enhanced.
I had been working for a large real estate firm, and the women in the company would request I do some photo altering so that they could have the best image displayed on their business cards.
So while plastic surgeons were charging between $10,000 to $30,000 for rhinoplasties, face-lifts, and other improvements, I’d offer to give my colleagues a new nose, fewer wrinkles or breast implants for no charge.
One associate asked me if I could do anything to correct a family portrait she prized where her eyes were closed. And since my practice had evolved to include transplants, I simply gave her my wife’s eyes.
“Go see the surgeon,” folks would advise people desiring my sought-after enhancements.
I didn’t even have a license.
Erdos is a freelance humor columnist. him at [email protected].
