FINISHING a photoshoot of her two sons, Becky Hailes breathes a sigh of relief.
She has just taken more than 1,800 pictures of Rory, six, and Flynn, seven months, sitting on her bed for her Instagram page.
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But the former carer realises she still hasn’t got the perfect shot and will have to use Photoshop to create the right image — just like the Princess of Wales.
So the 24-year-old does what she calls “mum-editing” to remove a scuffed sleeve or a scratch on the knee.
Becky, of Crawley, West Sussex, says: “I am proud to experiment with Photoshop on my children’s pictures.
“I have swapped heads and used hands from different pictures to create the right shot.”
Yesterday, Kate apologised after Kensington Palace posted a digitally altered family picture taken by the Prince of Wales at Adelaide Cottage, the family’s home in Windsor, in celebration of Mother’s Day.
Several major photo agencies withdrew the snap, the first official shot of Kate since abdominal surgery in January, over fears it had been “edited at source”.
But Becky says tweaking images is par for the course when posting pictures of your kids online.
She says: “When I saw the Mother’s Day photo of Kate and her three children I spotted the photo-editing.
‘Swapping heads’
“I knew it was ‘mum-editing’. Good for her. I have done similar tweaks and you do it because the kids will never all look perfect at the same time.
“If my child has a scratch or mark on their hand, face or leg, I’ll blur it out.
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“Anyone who criticises Kate for tweaking or ‘fixing’ her kids’ photos is being mean. Filters are a mum’s secret weapon for social media-worthy pictures.
“Tweaking the pictures takes the stress out of posting. Getting two or more kids to smile perfectly for the camera is near-impossible.
“I take parts of different photos from the same shot to improve a picture. I’m shocked people think that’s wrong.”
Royal enthusiasts had questioned why Kate wasn’t wearing her wedding ring in the Mother’s Day snap and noticed her other hand was blurry.
Others said daughter Charlotte’s cardigan sleeve seemed to disappear and her skirt was fuzzy.
Some claimed there seemed to be an odd cut in a nearby skirting board.
And in a colour-corrected and lightened version of the image, Kate’s zip appears not to line up.
Yesterday, she apologised, saying, “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.
“I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused.”
But Becky, who has 6,000 Instagram followers, says: “Photoshopping your babies and children isn’t wrong.
“Filters add texture and can help you bring a photo alive. It’s part of experimenting with photography.”
Becky, who is married to electrician Andy, 31, studied Photoshopping and photo-editing as part of her A levels at school.
She says: “I loved it and have used it ever since. After I had Rory, I had no body confidence.
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“I used Photoshop to improve my images and to add colour or remove food from Rory’s face in photos.
“It helped build my confidence as a mum.
“When Flynn was born, getting the perfect shot of the boys together was almost impossible.
“There is so much pressure on mums to post perfect photos. When you try to get a baby and a toddler to smile and look the same way at the same time it’s impossible. I knew I’d need to up my Photoshopping game.”
In a recent photoshoot, Becky took 150 pictures of her boys using “live photo” — which means each shot has up to six or eight digital images within it.
She says: “I effectively had 1,200 photos but kids being kids meant there was always something wrong.
“One would be looking away, or moving their hand, or hair would be in the way.
“So, I added the photo of Rory I liked and merged it with the one of Flynn I wanted.
“I blurred the background to create the perfect photo.”
Becky then tried different filters as well as checking the boys’ faces and bodies to ensure any clothing wrinkles or marks were removed using a Photoshop tool.
She says: “There is nothing wrong with swapping heads like I did. Both boys were photographed at the same shoot.
“It’s just picking the perfect shot of each and using them to create the pic I wanted.”
In other photos, Becky says she has used her Photoshopping skills to fix the boys’ hands or clothes.
She says: “I had a photo of Rory that I loved but his hand was blurry.
“So I cut and pasted his hand from another photo from the same shoot.
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“Anyone who thinks it’s wrong has never had to photograph kids.
“I refuse to be trolled or criticised for using skills I learnt for my A levels to get a photo I like.
“I am not making them look like supermodels. It’s a bit of tweaking.”
But Becky thinks many mums and dads take Photoshopping too far: “I don’t make my kids have over-the-top ‘doll eyes’, or use AI tools to make them look like a 20-year-old toddler.
“Some parents Photoshop out birthmarks. That’s taking away the child’s identity.
“I’m a realist. As a mum you know kids can only sit for a small amount of time to be photographed.
“It’s not wrong, it’s just using tools to help fix a wonky smile, a blurred hand or kids that simply are bored with posing.”
