One of my biggest decisions in photography has nothing to do with what equipment I use. It is the answer to the question, do I retouch a photograph, or leave it 'raw'?
In my earliest days, almost all of my photography was unaltered. I preferred to work with the mindset that my photos should be perfect straight through the lens. If something didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, I found out why and fixed it.
Then, I discovered editing and kinda got a carried away with it. You can probably tell when that started if you were to do a comprehensive review of my photos. HDR was all the rave for a while and so was photoshop. I did, eventually, make it back to my basic roots in photography. I'm back to shooting as best as I can without retouch, except for a few minor changes like cropping and exposure.
I have even started to detest photoshop and lightroom and all of those fancy schmancy photography canvases, where images are twisted or airbrushed or layered into fine art, and the 'art of photography' has slowly started to suffocate in the background. Photographers, in general (and, more often than not, predominately in the digital realm) rely more on their editor than their own skill, it seems. How sad.
I think
this article I 'Stumbled Upon' sums up about every reason I have against editing. Unfortunately, people tend to carry the mindset that they can trust photography, and that's just not always true. Photographs make an excellent medium when used correctly for artistic endeavors, but for me? I prefer to take photographs for the sake of capturing beauty or life or something interesting.
Like this picture. I was lucky. Josh hates getting his picture taken. But, how could I resist? Chewing on a piece of straw, wearing his field hat and a flannel. He's gone country, so to speak.
It's not a perfect picture as far as 'photography rules' go, but it perfectly captures the essence of the man.
