Collie lover Loc: St. Louis, MO

Agree. Some PP may be needed; i.e., cropping, lightening up areas, etc. But some people go overboard. We're not seeing what was actually there, but what someone thinks it should look like. That's what a painter does. A painter paints their interpretation of something they see, not what it actually is.

Tony.mustang

All responder should be happily with a good shot rather than making it what it wasn't. So keep up the good pc work and show others what a beautiful shot it is vs taking a good picture and being proud of your photography skills

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Some things, like making sausage and politics, cannot be done in front of the general public with the same outcome. Supporting the conduct of war in a free society with graphic media oversight is difficult.

It is true that no one outside a given field cares what goes on "behind a curtain," so long as they like the result.

To those of us IN the field, however, every detail is worth scrutiny, agony, debate…thesis, antithesis, and Hegelian synthesis/resolution.

pfillius Loc: Hercules, East SF Bay, CA USA

I agree AZ. Many years ago I was a member of a fairly large local camera club and when digital cameras became available we had to develop a new category for digital and it became apparent early on the photos shown were not going to really be "photo art". The club as a whole eventually lost interest just for the reasons you describe. It was kind of sad but that's how it was, the end of an era, so to speak. - Paul

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yes, a whole generation of old-school photographers retired when the digital imaging revolution occurred. I watched one particular individual quite literally go insane because he could not comprehend the new technology. Others just gave up.

I watched about 70 people who had worked in our photo lab — most of them for two to four decades — GIVE UP AND GET LAID OFF, rather than go to school at the company's expense to learn computing and digital imaging technologies. About the same thing happened among the ranks of our employee photographers and our customers' photographers. Hundreds of them left the industry, because they could not handle the paradigm shift.

There is absolutely no reason on Earth why that is a foregone conclusion, however! The best of us took all we knew about film and optical imaging methods and drew direct parallels into the digital world. We discovered that there is far more capability, precision, control, flexibility, quality, speed, safety, USEFULNESS and [insert more "better" characteristics here] in the world of digital imaging than there ever was with silver halide imaging methods.

If you haven't read The Long Tail, by Chris Anderson, go get that book! It explains the benefits and implications of the digital world quite well.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Check out Julieanne Kost's web site at http://jkost.com for some excellent examples of "painterly photography." I especially like her "What I Dream" categories.

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

A while back I was in Grafton, a ghost town just outside of Zion N.P. and there was and artist there painting pictures of the town backed by the peak of Zion. In his painting he moved this and that, the school house was different. In fact I made the comment to him I cannot get that perspective through my lens to which he replied That is called artistic license and as such can paint what I feel and not what I see.
Another times I was on the south rim of the Grand Canyon running around taking pictures with my 35mm and walk by a camera set up to take a picture. It was a 5x7 view camera where the bellows were twisted and I must admit I could not achieve that either. It was also better than I could achieve from that vantage point. But I press on knowing I like what I can get and have to look for better vantage points, etc.

paulrph1 Loc: Washington, Utah

So with that being said should there be limitations that are drawn. This fake stuff is even rolling over into other aspects of our lives and some want to modify everything even though it is not correct. And in so doing over look the obvious. Funny this is there is nothing wrong with the "as it is". Or are we just jumping one the bandwagon, not trying to create any waves. In so doing many important things are overlooked just to fill the mind set.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

I totally agree that post processing is too often overdone. An example would be the grunge effect so popular today. Also HDR with horrendous tone mapping.

However, I also believe that to get the most from a modern digital camera I need to shoot in RAW 16 bit with the largest color space my camera is capable of.

In that case, I liken the RAW data to the undeveloped negative and the post-processing to the darkroom dance where I try to reproduce the feeling on the print that I felt when I visualized the scene.

Sometimes this is only minimal color temp, white and black point adjustment and setting of the mid tones. Other times, a bit more demanding of skills that I am only beginning to learn.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

If you are using photography as an art form, you have every right to interpret what you see as a painter does.

davyboy Loc: Anoka Mn.

The question should not be about p.p. but maybe when a photo is changed as not to look like a photo then should be labeled as a different form of art

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

Yes, to a point, I do. I'm not a big fan of PP but if it's required to make the shot look good then I'll do some.

I've added two points of contrast to my camera's output and most of the time I won't change a thing.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

If you knew anything about the history of photography, you would know that photographs have many "looks", many of which are different than the eye sees. You have a very limited concept of what photography can do.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

What a great discussion! It can easily be summarized with the old saying: "there is no accounting for taste". Or the new saying: "opinions are like a**holes - everyone has one"!

davyboy Loc: Anoka Mn.

WHAT is the difference between a snapshot and a photo??