There are a lot of great movies out there with horribly photoshopped family images. You know what I’m talking about. You may see a photo panned to on a shelf and it’s supposed to be of one big, happy, photoshopped family, but instead it’s some cut and paste job that’s awkward (and not for comedic effect.) Many family-based movies have a moment like this where multiple actors have been frankenstein-ed together to make it seem like they’ve spent time together outside of the context of the movie. But as I was watching Easy A recently and saw one of these very apparent moments thanks to a photo involving Amanda Bynes, I had to ask myself: Why does this happen so frequently?
It turns out, there are several reasons weird Photoshop moments have become a sign of the times.
But first, I think it’s worth pointing out the Amanda Bynes version is so egregious, as they took a literal (and obvious) event photo of her and splashed it into a poorly edited picture with her family (Fred Armisen, also in a tux without context, and Stacey Travis) in the movie. I’m not the first person to notice this either…
So we were all watching Easy A last night and started absolutely cackling at this “family picture” that uses a paparazzi photo of Amanda Bynes pic.twitter.com/KiEBqR8ligJanuary 4, 2025
“Sometimes It’s Just Kind Of A Nightmare
One frequent set designer, Seth Rutledge, actually spoke to The Guardian about what happens on movie and TV sets leading to such sloppy photos a while back. (Thank goodness I’m not the only person obsessed with this issue.) Rutledge told the outlet it can be a nightmare to figure out what to do about a family photo when a scene calls for one at the last minute.
Sometimes it’s just kind of a nightmare. The scripts get written without any idea what exists or not.
The obvious answer can often be to get the relevant “family” or “friends” cast members to show up on set and do a quick photoshoot. If everyone is on set at once and the photo required is one that is set in the present day, this can often be a wonderful solution for a movie or TV show. It’s also why some movies have better family photos than others.
But taking a new photo is not always an option. Sometimes a script will call for photos featuring kids who are much younger doing some sort of specific activity, perhaps hugging their parents. Or they might want a photo of friends when they were much younger at some sort of event, like camp, together –the list can go on and on. In those cases, actual monetary resources have to be used in order to create good, solid photos. Otherwise it’s just some random person on set throwing a little lasso action together using Photoshop.
Which brings us to another reason some of these photos look horribly photoshopped in movies: What was the original intent?
Sometimes The Photos Are Just Supposed To Be A Part Of The Background
When a photo is specifically edited to be a really germane part of the plot — as happened in one Criminal Minds episode — the results can be spectacular, or at least not noticeably cringe-worthy. But that’s simply not the case a lot of times when these photos are being put together, particularly when movies are made on a relatively limited budget, like Easy A, which was made with only $8 million. (And went on to make $75 million.)
Most of the time, these sorts of family photos are simply never supposed to be highlighted onscreen. They are meant to be props on set that sit on a shelf somewhere in the background, perhaps in the viewers’ sightline but never meant to be dissected by people watching. To be fair, that’s the situation with Easy A.
Olive starts getting friendly with mean girl Marianne Bryant by second period one day, until Marianne’s boyfriend contracts chlamydia and says it came from Olive. We cut to a shot of Marianne’s mother getting ready in a robe while talking on the phone about the chlamydia situation. She’s surrounded by these really phony family photos. But the pictures are big enough now on our TV’s it’s really, really noticeable.
Rutledge says when these images are usually designed, it’s because they were meant to be a simple supplement to a scene. Fans were never meant to see them, but sometimes these things are more noticeable in the era of HD TVs.
Primarily I do sets and locations, which is how I get involved in doing these Photoshop pictures of people in backgrounds. Often the art department will need something and be like, ‘Hey, can you make this background picture of this guy’s kids that we never see on the TV?’
Other times, a photo gets highlighted more than it was originally intended to when a scene may get shifted around to another part of a room on set or whatever. It might start out in the background and then a director or actor may pick up one of these photos while speaking, suddenly highlighting it, or a photo may shift much closer to where the camera has been placed.
No matter what is actually going on with some of these more egregious photos, it’s “gradually becoming more of a problem,” as people like myself notice it on the Internet more. But he says everyone is doing the “best they can” even when edited images are not up to snuff. So, if you see a horribly Photoshopped photo, maybe give the people responsible a little grace.
And hey, even projects that don’t deal with the curse of family photos still have their own on-camera problems. The world will never forget the Game of Thrones coffee cup. Or Henry Cavill‘s mustachegate.