Seda Pir looks admiringly at the photo of her three-year-old daughter Ella on her smartphone.

People often say that they are alike, and that she wouldn’t change anything about her precious girl. Except for her runny nose, spotty upper body and flushed cheeks.

With a few clicks of Seda’s digital editing software, all of Ella’s ‘imperfections’ are gone and the image is ready for social media.

It’s so hard to take a nice photo because kids are so active and can’t sit still,” Seda, 39, explains. ‘Rather than intervening in the moment, when she’s enjoying herself by wiping her nose or changing her top, it’s just so easy to digitally erase them afterwards. I think every mother does it.’

When the Princess of Wales was criticized last week for ‘doctoring’ a Mother’s Day photo she shared on Instagram, the Mail was flooded with letters from furious mothers in her defence.

Last year, a study from the Journal of Media Psychology found that 64 percent of us edit our images before posting them online. Another study found that of all the photos women share, family photos are the ones they are most likely to edit.

However, some argue that ‘perfecting’ children’s images can lead to them growing up believing that their natural appearance is not good enough, which can cause feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem.

While removing stains from clothing may be harmless enough, altering the child’s face or body may be considered less acceptable.

So what inspires a mom to change her family snaps?

Seda, a full-time mother living in Hampshire, made a living as a fashion influencer, so admits altering images is second nature to her. She has over 10,000 photos of herself and her daughter on her phone, and even before she takes a photo, she will make the shot as flattering as possible.

“My favorite hacks include using a ring light [a circular bright white bulb]. It removes my wrinkles and any skin blemishes on Ella’s skin tone.

‘To clean up the image afterwards, FaceTune is my go-to tool. It usually only takes two or three minutes, so why not?

“When I look back at the photos, I want to remember how cute and happy she was, instead of my attention being drawn to little flaws.”

But would she continue editing images of Ella when she gets old enough to understand that her mother edits her appearance this way?

“When Ella is old enough to make her own decisions, I will probably still edit family photos, but I would check with her,” she says. “There will always be imperfections or problems that I don’t want to be the focus of the photo.”

But while some people may frown on her actions, Seda knows that if she doesn’t edit the photos, she still risks criticism.

‘I’ve had some unkind comments; one mom asked me why Ella has “droopy eyes,” and another mom wanted to know why I posted a photo with stains on Ella’s clothes.

‘Of course I blocked these people, but such unfriendliness gets under your skin.

‘I would never go so far as to change my daughter’s actual characteristics. But I find myself getting caught up, afraid that if I put up a picture of Ella with a runny nose, I’ll be told I’m a bad mother because I didn’t use a tissue before taking the picture?’

That is why Seda has every sympathy for the Princess of Wales. ‘If I feel like I’m being judged and put under the microscope, how on earth is Kate supposed to feel when the eyes of the world are on her and her children?

‘She’s just a mother like all of us, with three children who are never allowed to sit still. Their clothes will never be perfect and neither will hers. It’s no wonder she wanted to adjust the images here and there.

As long as they aren’t completely different, a little editing is fine these days. Us moms all do it, so why on earth can’t Kate?’

Supporter Sadie McGrath, 34, is another mother who strongly supports our future queen.

The mother-of-four – who lives in Birmingham with her 15-year-old daughter, 12-year-old son and younger daughters, Sofia, four, and Iona, two – started digitally altering her images two years ago. ‘When I had Iona, I became a representative of a company that makes environmentally friendly cloth diapers. I started posting pictures of her wearing them on Instagram and got a discount if my pictures led to sales.

‘Of course I wanted my photos to be the best they could be, so I started looking at what other mums were doing online. I soon started experimenting with using editing tools.

‘I have a multitude of apps on my phone, including Lightroom and Photoroom. The basic packages are free and are all I need for the type of editing I do.

‘I soon realized that I enjoyed photoshopping the children’s photos to make them look nicer.

‘My favorite thing to do is take a photo of my girls at home, and then edit each photo to make it look like they are somewhere much more exciting or glamorous.

‘Why a boring photo of Sofia on the stairs, or Iona in our lounge in a dreary old age, when they could be sitting in an ambitious luxury kitchen with the sun streaming in, or next to a lavish Christmas tree?

‘I imagine most people would assume I took the photos in my own home. I don’t think they’d be jealous of the fancy kitchen backdrop, but you never know.’

It is a process that can be completed in just 20 minutes.

“Family and friends post photos with messy backgrounds and their kids captured just like they do on Facebook, and I’m the last person to judge anyone.

‘But you just have to have striking images on Instagram; there’s no room for a pile of laundry in the background, as much as that is the reality for most of us moms.”

It’s not just the background that gets a touch of glossy shine, though. Sadie’s children also get a shine.

‘Sofia has eczema so I’m going to digitally erase it from her skin, or if there’s a blob of food on her upper body, I’m going to take it off. I also gave my eldest daughter a smile and made myself look slimmer.

‘The girls enjoy being photographed. Sofia understands that I am manipulating the images, and she will say ‘wow’ when I show her what I have done.

‘And the responses I get are intoxicating, like “beautiful photos” and “she’s cute.” As indulgent as it sounds, nice compliments like that make it all worth it.”

It explains why Sadie, who has nearly 28,000 images on her phone, goes to such lengths to get the “perfect” photo.

‘When we are at home, I usually take pictures while the children are reading; when we’re out, we’ll go to a local park. I always check the weather! Spring is ideal with the long grass, trees and flowers in bloom. It means I don’t have to edit the background.

‘My sister asks me to take pictures of her children and if I can adjust her images for her too.’

As for Sadie’s older children, she admits that they are “harder to photograph now; they don’t really want their picture taken.” But that doesn’t stop her from “also changing the light or color in images of it.”

This makes perfect sense to Agatha Wrzesinska, 34, a stay-at-home mother living in Edinburgh with her four children, Nico, 13; David, ten; Mia, two and Leo, five months.

She has been interested in photography since her early twenties and mainly uses a second-hand Canon RP camera, which cost her £700 (a £300 Canon PowerShot G12 is the Princess of Wales’s camera of choice).

‘Like the Princess of Wales, I enjoy capturing those precious moments of family life in my spare time. So many experiences are blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, and our memories can only hold so much. I like to play with colors and make my photos as attractive as possible. For me it is an outlet for creative expression.

On a more practical level, I can remove all unwanted distractions from photos: from red eyes to ugly objects in the background.

‘People usually don’t notice; we are all so used to manipulated images that it is the norm these days. It’s been happening in the advertising world for decades: why shouldn’t we moms do the same?

‘I use Lightroom to smooth out discolored skin patches on my children’s faces. Leo has eczema and I tend to just get rid of it. I want my children to look their best.

‘There is no need for me to defend my actions. I just remove the dry skin from my child’s face or clear up the background. It’s hardly a criminal offense, right?’

As for the issue of posting a photo online that hasn’t been digitally enhanced in some way, it’s a firm ‘no’ from Agatha.

“It’s rare that you capture an image that can’t be improved,” she says. “In a heartbeat, I’d say 99 percent of my photos of my family have been digitally manipulated in some way.

‘Can you blame us mothers for sprinkling a little bit of digital fairy dust on our loved ones? If it makes the images better, you’d be crazy not to do that.’

Donald Trump sees no problem with it Princess Kate Middleton editing a Mother’s Day portrait of herself and her children.

“That shouldn’t be a problem because everyone is doctors. You look at these movie actors and you see a movie actor and you meet him, and you say, ‘Is that the same person in the picture?’” Trump, 77, said during an interview on Tuesday, March 19, with the British television channel GB News. “And I actually looked at that, and it was a very small doctor. I don’t understand why there is such an outcry about this.”

The former president continued: “It’s a tough time, you know, they really went after her.”

The controversy began earlier this month when multiple news outlets received notice to remove a photo of Kate, 42, posing with Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, because it appeared to have been ‘doctored’ by the source.

Kate then addressed the drama via X.

“Like many amateur photographers, I occasionally experiment with editing,” her March 11 statement began. “I wanted to apologize for any confusion the family photo we shared yesterday caused. I hope everyone who celebrated had a happy Mother’s Day.”

The portrait remains on Kate and Prince William‘s official Instagram page, although Instagram has posted a warning message at the bottom of the photo.

“Altered/Photo Video,” the warning reads, adding that “independent fact-checkers say the photo or image has been edited in a way that could mislead people, but not because it was shown out of context.”

The botched editing sparked conspiracy theories about Kate’s health and whereabouts as she recovers from abdominal surgery. Kensington Palace announced in January that the Princess of Wales had undergone “planned” abdominal surgery and would not resume her public duties until after Easter. Kate was seen smiling during an outing with William, 41, on Sunday, March 17.

However, the sighting wasn’t enough to convince some people that all is well with Kate and William.

“That’s not Kate…” Andy Cohen wrote via

While Trump is not impressed that Kate is engaging in photo editing, he did say during his appearance on GB News that “appropriate action” will have to be taken if Prince Harry lied about his history of drug use when applying for a US visa. (The Heritage Foundation last year sued the Department of Homeland Security for access to Harry’s immigration records after the prince admitted in his memoir to drug use, Reserve.)

When GB News hosts Nigel Farage Asked whether the consequences for Harry, 39, could include deportation from the United States, Trump replied: “Oh, I don’t know. You’ll have to tell me. You just have to tell me.”

A bride has been branded a ‘princess’ by her mother-in-law for setting strict dress codes for her wedding guests.

Shanie Ryan, 39, told all the guests to wear nude or neutral colors – such as beige, pale pink and brown tones – on her special day so everyone would “match each other.”

The mother-of-one, from south London, introduced the strict dress code because she had a ‘clear idea’ of what her wedding photos would look like after her big day.

She worried that guests arriving in brightly colored outfits would create the “wrong atmosphere” and ruin her unique photos.

Shanie and her now husband Tony Sinclair, 39, therefore wrote on the invites that they featured a nude or neutral color scheme – and even Shanie admitted it was ‘a bit cheeky’.

“If someone had shown up really provocatively – bright pink glitter, feathers or crazy prom dress styles that would have felt like a middle finger to us, I would have directed them to the back of the photos, or the photographer would have edited them out,” she said.

‘I was fully prepared for it to come up in a speech and I would laugh at myself – and it did come up.

“Everyone told me that my invitation made them think there might be a bridezilla moment on the big day.

‘I think there were people who thought it was so exaggerated and extra.

‘My mother-in-law said she thought I was a princess, but on the day she was impressed.’

The photos came out exactly as the bride had hoped – making the bold request worth it.

“We had spent a lot of money on our photographer and videographer, and I had a clear idea of ​​what photos and videos I wanted,” Shanie said.

‘I wanted cinematic and romantic; I had a clear vision.

‘The only thing I think would detract from the plan was if people came in crazy bright colours, or with glitter and feathers.

“I was afraid that if the guests at the wedding wore the wrong vibe, it wouldn’t matter how beautiful the photos would be.”

Shanie and Tony, an entrepreneur, married at Primrose Hill Farm in Banbury, Oxfordshire, on July 6 last year.

Their invite read, “We (aka Shanie lol) have a vision for the overall visual look of our wedding photos (sic).

‘That is why we kindly and respectfully ask you to adhere to our preferred dress code.’

The dress code specified their preferred palette of ‘light neutrals’: beige, nude, brown, cream, champagne and pale gold.

They asked that the styles be “glamorous, formal, red carpet worthy” and could include “delicate prints, texture, soft shine and embellishment.”

But the invitation also stated that guests were not allowed to wear “bright colors, black, white, dark colors, neons, bold prints, polka dots, stripes, glitter.”

The couple wanted to ensure that their friends and family did not appear in strong patterns or bright colours, but wanted the guests to ‘dress up and feel fantastic’.

Shanie said, “We just didn’t want it to look like a weird warehouse.

‘I had a little moment where I thought, “is this a bit cheeky?” mainly because some people just like color, and some people like black.

“But it added an element of fun to the run-up, and everyone was excited to show off what they were wearing.”

Luckily, all the guests followed the rules and Shanie managed to get the photos she wanted.

The bride made one pre-arranged exception for a guest of African descent, who wanted to attend her special day in traditional attire that did not match the color scheme.

‘I’m glad we made the colours. Everyone commented on the day that it looked so good and that it was a good idea,” Shanie said.

“People understood when they got there, even if they didn’t know it before.

“With the rolling hills in the background, it captured the essence of the day, and it was also something of a talking point.”

FACEBOOK has alerted Brits to some big changes that have finally arrived on Messenger.

The social network has introduced several new features that are heavily inspired by WhatsApp.

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It's not surprising that we're going through WhatsApp's book, since WhatsApp and Messenger are both owned by Mark Zuckerberg's tech powerhouse Meta.

Britons were greeted this week by an alert in the app saying “Messenger is getting an upgrade”.

One of the most sought-after features is the ability to edit messages and make them disappear even after 24 hours.

Users who don't like people to know if they've seen a text yet can also uncheck the read receipt checkboxes so you don't feel pressured to reply immediately.

One of the most controversial changes is that end-to-end encryption is now enabled automatically.

The security feature is designed to provide an extra layer of protection so that no one can intercept and read your messages.

But critics have long argued that this could make Messenger a safe haven for criminals and pedophiles.

Previously, you had to enable end-to-end encryption within the settings yourself.

Calls are also subject to the same protection.

Announcing the move in December, Meta said: “The extra layer of security provided by end-to-end encryption means the contents of your messages and calls with friends and family are protected from the moment they leave your device until the moment they reach your device. the recipient's device.

“This means that no one, including Meta, can see what is sent or said unless you choose to report a message to us.”

In a further effort to increase security, users are also asked to set a PIN so that no one can snoop on their messages.

Meta says it has also made improvements to media within Messenger.

A joint party of BSF and District Force went from Marbeda camp to Rengaghati Rengagondi polling station with four polling teams from Chhotebetiya police station in Kanker district.

Chhattisgarh: A BSF officer and two polling station members were injured in an IED blast that took place in Kanker today. A joint party of BSF and District Force went from Marbeda camp to Rengaghati Rengagondi polling station with four polling teams from Chhotebetiya police station in Kanker district. The injured are being treated and their condition is said to be normal according to police, news agency ANI said.

BJP leader killed just three days before polls

Just a few days ago, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was allegedly killed by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district just three days before the first phase of assembly elections, police said on Saturday. According to police, Ratan Dube was attacked by the Maoists when he was campaigning for a BJP candidate in Kaushaltar area of ​​Narayanpur district.

A group of Maoists attacked him with an ax when Dube interacted with the people. Dube was the president of the BJP’s Narayanpur district unit. After the incident, a team of police rushed to the spot. However, no arrest has been made so far. A search was underway.

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023: Election and Counting Dates

1. Voting date: November 7, 2023 and November 17, 2023
2. Date of count: Sunday December 3, 2023

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023: Other Important Dates

• Date of issuance of Gazette Notice (Ph-1): October 13, 2023 (Friday)
• Date of issuance of Gazette Notice (Ph-2): October 21, 2023 (Saturday)
• Last date of nominations (Ph-1): October 20, 2023 (Friday)
• Last date of nominations (Ph-2): October 30, 2023 (Monday)
• Date for examination of nominations (Ph-1): October 21, 2023 (Saturday)
• Date for examination of nominations (Ph-2): October 31, 2023 (Tuesday)
• Last date for withdrawal of applications (Ph-1): October 23, 2023 (Monday)
• Last date for withdrawal of applications (Ph-2): November 2, 2023 (Thursday)
• Poll date (Ph-1): November 7, 2023 (Tuesday)
• Date before which election will be completed: December 5, 2023 (Tuesday)