I recently read (another) article suggesting that work done in the post-processing phase using digital tools lessens the value of the photograph and suggests that the photographer is less than competent or perhaps “cheating” – and that real photographers get it right “straight out of the camera.”
There is much more to say about this bizarre notion, but for now here is a little “thought experiment.”
In order to believe that image modification in digital post-processing is cheating or otherwise lessens the value of a photographer’s work as art, it seems to me that you would have to accept that a whole list of analogous traditional film photography techniques must be equally wrong, including:
- use of filters
- use of swing, tilt, shift
- choosing a film based on its “personality” (One word: “Velvia”)
- dodging and burning
- selecting and/or altering film development methods in order to alter the image
- selecting different grades of paper for different prints
- using any focal length other than “normal” – whatever that means
- cropping
- spotting prints
- any use of artificial lighting or reflectors
- pre-exposing negatives
- the original USM technique done with negatives
- any corrections to the color balance of the original capture
- all black and white photography – as the world is never black and white
Of course, every one of these and more are standard stock in trade for photographers working with film and traditional darkroom techniques.
