Christmas Eve is here, which means Jingle Bells is on repeat, the trains are in chaos, your neighbour's strung up enough lights to communicate with the moon, and an entire nation is poring over the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Christmas card to judge whether they made an over-zealous use of Photoshop's clone stamp tool.
Posted by Meghan Markle on Instagram, it's not exactly one of the worst Christmas card designs ever. It depicts Prince Harry and Meghan with Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in a verdant setting on what appears to be wooden bridge. But what's happening with Harry's hair? Maybe the couple needs to see our Photoshop tutorials.
Eagle-eyed Royal fans have spotted a slight smudge above Prince Harry's head. Below that, a chunk of the duke's hair appears to be missing.
“What happened with the editing? The back of Harry’s head is missing above the hairline,” one person wrote. “Looks like they used the stamp tool in Photoshop. The chunk of head floating above his head when you zoom in,” someone else speculated.
It's not the first accusation of over-zealous Photoshop use on the couple's part. Earlier in the year, there was speculation that Meghan had edited a photo of her and Prince Harry to mark their seventh wedding anniversary.
And, of course, we all remember the epic Kate Middleton Photoshop controversy of 2024, don't we? (You remember, right?) That one sparked a media frenzy that lasted for days until Kate admitted that she had retouched the images herself.
I hate to ruin a good royal Christmas controversy, but I'm not convinced there's anything off this time. To me, the supposed 'Photoshop fail' looks like foliage that's out of focus because it's closer to the camera. It's called depth of field.
What do you think? Did the couple try to clone a leaf to cover Harry's bald patch, or is it just inopportune framing? Let us know in the comments.
If you need the software yourself, here are the current prices. You might also want to see our pick of the best Photoshop alternatives.
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