Delderby Loc: Derby UK

I believe it was an appropriate reply to the OP's comments re photographers distorting nature, when they are only distorting what man has done and is doing.
BTW - who thinks your great other than you?

Haydon

An equal asking would be if he used artificial light under dimly lit conditions.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

I asked Picasso pretty much the same thing.......

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Except that your digital camera software engineers for each make (Canon, Nikon, etc.) are the ones who determine what SOOC means. Fortunately, my Canon 760D allows me to shoot in RAW, and there also are camera functions that allow me to choose various settings for that SOOC file. Additionally, now cameras come with their own "creative" filters and software, so just what does SOOC mean?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Exactly!
One can utilize all kinds of settings for the initial image in JPEG.
SOOC for my camera will be different than someone else's.
I still tweak if I want to do so...

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

Does that mean that you disagree or that I wandered off topic? Yes - I wandered off topic - but could not resist the temptation to warn everyone at every opportunity what we are doing.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Beauty is in the eyes of those who are actually paying for an your imagery...
Nothing else matters... literally...

Matters not if you are doing forensic work or fashion editorial...
Only the client's aesthetics have merit...

But then again this is from a commercial photographer's perspective... enough said.

DAN Phillips Loc: Graysville, GA

yes, it was but done without post processing. When I was in my heyday, it was mostly black and white and slide film. I just do not like to see pictures that are overcooked and not realistic. I've been doing the digital since about 2009. Anything coming out of a camera now is processed, however, the more realistic it is the better I like it. To each his own. I must say there are times when I realize a need for something more to make the picture or just the subject stand out. But definitely do not like overcooked and unrealistic images.

rydabyk Loc: Florida Panhandle

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Dan, Sorry to say you need to look at Ansel Adams B&W prints. He was a master of manipulation in the darkroom. All his images were enhanced in the darkroom on his
film and prints.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

That's an artistic judgement that we all make when we look at an image. I am a great believer in processing - I spent hours poring over Ansel Adams's technical books as a kid, and used his methods to achieve the images that I "saw" in my mind when I was taking a photograph. Even back then, it was possible to "overcook" an image in a way that didn't look good to my eyes. Adams and his f/64 friends were virulently opposed to the gauzy unsharpness and contrast of the "pictorialist" school.

Today, we have so many more tools, and there are so many visual examples presented to us through all sorts of media, that overcooked has become the new normal. (Go look at motivational and other commercially available posters to see examples of people whose sliders are all too far to the right) We don't have to like it, but HDR, oversaturated colors, and impossible focus stacking are real trends. Do a little, you may produce a great image. Do too much, IMHO, and you'll wind up with images that produce negative reactions.

So, to me, unless you're a photojournalist or documentarian, there is no intrinsic merit or superiority in shooting SOOC. Exposure, contrast, and other variables are just as controlled in a digital environment as they were in a wet one. The choice of how much is too much, and of what constitutes excessive artificial enhancement is in the eye of the beholder, just as it always has been.

Andy

DAN Phillips Loc: Graysville, GA

Yes, to each his own. I'm sure this will issue will still be debated when I'm long gone.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

And why they make both vanilla and chocolate ice cream, but "Liver and onion" has not yet made it to market!

Andy

srt101fan

So, Thomas, are you saying the artistic merit of a work is entirely defined by it's commercial value? Please say it ain't so...!

(BTW, I like what I've seen of your work on UHH, post more!)