Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, has a personal interest in photography. She uses this skill regularly to catch, frame, and share with the public moments of family. She certainly edited some of the family photos in her own way to present these moments in a better light. Many a time, she is given the credit that the said photographer is the same person that represents many of the official birthday pictures of her children which are shared with the public as official images from Kensington Palace.

Editing is a way to polish the visual quality of these images before they are released to the public. It is a very common practice both in professional and amateur photography. Such processes may be anything from changes in lighting, color balance, or even composition to achieve the effect one wants. For a public figure like Kate Middleton, they are very good at ensuring a particular image is kept, and these help them through ensuring that the photos are well able to communicate the warmth and personality of the family effectively.

Which is all fine and dandy until you distribute them via a news picture agency who’s credibility relies on the authenticity of the images the distribute. All news agencies have a clear policy about making changes to news images that are distributed through their channels. Here is an example from Alamy news.

“Your pictures should be an accurate and fair representation of the scene
photographed. They should be in colour. Nothing should be added, removed
or altered. Post production processes that alter the scene or manipulate the
photo are not allowed”.

This was the reason almost all news agencies pulled the images from distribution.