As reported by espreso.tv

Alessandro Nasini, curator of the exhibition at Buckingham Palace dedicated to the 100th anniversary of royal portrait photographs, has defended photo retouching. He made his statement after the controversy surrounding the photo of the Duchess of Wales with her children taken by Prince William on Mother's Day. 2 months ago, five leading news agencies and photo agencies removed the photo, finding that it had been digitally manipulated. Later, Kate admitted that she had experimented with editing a family photo.

Photo: Instagram Prince of Wales/Kensington Palace

Alessandro Nasini said that retouching — from simply cropping an image to removing the entire background — remains a vital tool in royal portrait photography. Many of the photographs currently on display in the Royal Gallery at Buckingham Palace have been retouched, as detailed in the notes.

"Retouching itself has always been part of photography, in fact since the beginning of photography. It is very important, especially for portrait photography, because it is a creative process. It's not a news photo, it's not a reportage, it's not a commercial photo. It's just a tool that has always been used by photographers to realize their vision, their aesthetics in the final image. It's part of the creative process. It's just one of the tools", Nasini said.

The exhibition of more than 150 photographs is open to the public until October 6 and reveals the stories behind many of the iconic royal photos taken over the decades.