Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I was not representing anything about Cartier-Bresson's philosophies. But you very clearly made misguided statements about him due to a lack of knowledge and no effort at finding facts before spouting off calling others by names that appear to apply only to you.

Didn't you just say you were out of here on this one? (It's a discussion you never should have engaged in to begin with.)

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

You are truly a delusional fool. You trotted HCB out to support your position. You failed.

Go take some pictures - not snapshots. Learn to compose.

Get a life.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Tell us again how wrong I was about The Puddle picture... : - )

Thats the one you said was absolutely not edited, remember?

tdekany Loc: Oregon

You are being pathetic - go learn to take pictures that don't look like snap shots. You claim to be a pro.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Are you stupid enough to believe that you can lie your way out of this. Anyone who has followed my posts can see that I never said that. You have just proved that you don't know the truth when it is staring you in the face.

Is it Alzheimer's or drugs? Something has your mind off balance. Or maybe you just don't have both oars in the water.

Mamu Loc: Just outside of Athens, Georgia U.S.A.

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Mamu Loc: Just outside of Athens, Georgia U.S.A.

I think my post was just too confusing. The only time I think you should crop in camera is to use that as a limitation to spark your creativity (as an exercise). We use to have to do it for package printing and it is still useful in very certain kinds of portrait shoot situations (printing packages on location to be specific). My point was to not get so loose that you lose your subject in the background but leave enough room to do lens profile and transform corrections, and even portrait and landscape crops (if you leave a lot of room) if you like. I meant to mention leaving extra room when shooting action shots (sports, pet, kids, etc.) but that and journalistic photography I know little about. Other than portraits of children at play, I've done little action photography. When I worked as the custom color lab tech at Showcase Photographics in Atlanta, however, I printed every kind of commercial and fine art photography you can imagine (some you wouldn't want to). Almost nothing is cooler to me than making 16x20 or larger prints from 4x5 negs. I learned to "edit" by waving my hands under the enlarger lens to gently doge shadows. Many photographers are highly specialized, but many highly successful photographers shoot the work they can get and have to be well versed in many kinds of photography. The majority of my commercial work has been in the portrait side of the business and in the lab. But my passion has always been fine art photography and making prints (a dying art). I feel in love with photography in the Photographic Design Department at UGA.
Shooting an 8x10 pinhole camera is about as far out of the box as you can get. Although alternative processing (I have a Van Dyke Brown print I made of a train I'm looking up at) is pretty far out there as well. Especially hand coating an emulsion onto paper. Photography has always come quite naturally for me. Since the first time I saw an image starting to form on an 8x10 in a tray of developer my passion for the art of photography has only grown even though so many of my skills are obsolete. I love to teach photography classes and share my passion. Working with advanced students is most rewarding. As far as being a "virtuoso," that's for the audience to decide not the artist. The fact that thousands of people look at my photographs to remember their loved ones means a lot to me. Sorry my response was so confusing, but I actually agree with pretty much everything you said (except where it comes to my lack of experience! lol :-)

Mamu Loc: Just outside of Athens, Georgia U.S.A.

Even if you crop in camera, not doing basic editing is lazy. Some "pros" will shoot a wedding and hand the client the sd cards with recommendation of a printing service. No matter how good a shooter is at cropping in camera, every image can use at least a tiny bit of editing. To not do it is to fall short of making the best photographs you possibly can.

Mamu Loc: Just outside of Athens, Georgia U.S.A.

What I consider "cheating" is using the content aware fill feature in Photoshop to literally create room around the image that wasn't captured. That amounts to painting with a computer. That's cropping to tight in camera.
If that's the only way I can make an image work then I won't hesitate to use it. Any decent artist "cheats" when necessary. I've worked with dozens of students (many of them seniors) whose first lesson involves locating the on button. I support anyone who wants to explore photography. I'm comfortable enough with my own skills that "looking down" on others isn't necessary.

rbfanman

Do what suits you. Many pros do it all-compose, crop, etc-in camera. Some don't. Do what suits you / your style, and don't worry about what others do / don't do. Ansel Adams never worried about how Matthew Brady would have shot something. Adams pleased himself.

rbfanman

Editing is not only post capture. You edit in your mind as you compose an image you have not yet shot. Pre production editing-composing-IS editing. Editing what does not yet exist is called "imagining." It is also called "Pre-Production Editing", and "Composing." You couldn't make photos without it.

Mamu Loc: Just outside of Athens, Georgia U.S.A.

You design before you press the shutter button. You edit afterwards.

BB4A

C - Conceptualize (what story result are you trying to achieve?)
I - Initiate the artistic process (map out the story, to ensure that your achievement can be itemized & measured, to deliver the result); a picture could tell 1,000 words?
P - Plan the execution of the artistic process; this includes Composition - tasks to enable the Deliverable - result required, then;
E - Execute the tasks to achieve the deliverable (your art, the image); this may involve using presets in the camera (tasks), and/or post-processing (tasks), all in your plan
C - Close, by (a) measuring you met/didn't meet your required result, then (b) publishing your art, or (c) destroying your art, or perhaps (c) defining your art as "lessons learned"