Abuden? You believe your favorite CDs were recorded straight to disk, no masters, no mixing and editing? Your bowl of noodles were just boiled with water and flour? And you think your favorite politicians must be talking straight from their mouths without going through their brains! Oh... that last one may be true ;-/
Yes I edit my photos,
There's no such thing as "presenting the photos as they are"; I choose to retain control of processing my photos, rather than turn processing over to someone else - a lab (for films) or the camera's built-in software.
The films' characteristics, the chemicals used and even the printer's capabilities produce different print qualities. Same goes to the software, lenses and mechanical differences in digital cameras. The 'untouched' pictures will only reflect the camera's characters, rather than the photographer's creativity to tell the story he wants to tell.
Options to make the photos in the darkroom (develop the films, scan the films, print the photos on the enlarger) or on the computer (edit the photos with software) make photos look better, and you are
definitely missing 50% of fun in photography if you are a 'straight shooter'!
With editing, the limitations of a camera can be pushed even further; the creativity of the photographer is not capped by the technologies, no matter how advanced or simple the equipment used, but rather benefited from them.
For this reason, I love seeing someone enjoying a simple plastic camera as much as a Leica :)
p/s. How do the pros make awesome photos with simple cameras, with some editing thrown in? Check this out -
