[wongataa]

Originally Posted by Badger0-0

I'll hold my hands up from the off and admit I know nothing at all about photography.

But seeing as I always watch the latest threads, I often come across the photography ones and indeed like to take a look, as I like to think I know what a good photo looks like

And this is a question that often crosses my mind.

You often see all sorts of effects and cropping etc applied, which tbh, to me is almost cheating.
Surely a good photo should be just that in a totally unadulterated state?

That said, I guess maybe the answer is in the title of the forum ie Digital photography.
I can see where the art comes into it, as editing is a skill in itself from what I know, but I do feel somewhat cheated, for some reason.
I mean, you can over-expose a shot, which makes it a bad photo, to my mind, but can then reduce the brightness or whatever to make it acceptable

If I had to choose between an excellent plain unadulterated pic and an excellent photoshopped one, the former would win everytime.

No offence meant to anyone; as I say, I know nowt about it, but just wanted to throw my no-nothing view of it in there and I'm interested in viewpoints

You should look at what Ansel Adams did in the darkroom to his photos. Often what he did was see the potential, get a photo, and then make it wonderful in the darkroom. It is easier today on the computer but no different to what could be done with chemicals in the past.