Straight off camera, or manipulate?

[catfish]

What is the general consensus of opinion here, should I go for the best shots I can, or go for the best I can still, and then "tweek" it in software.

when does a photograph cease to be a photo and become a created picture ?

[ccplim]

It all depends on how one look at the picture and individual preference. For me, I will try not to do any tweeking at all.

[alanhill]

People have always manipulated photographs. It used to be done in the darkroom, when a skilled printer could make a fairly ordinary negative produce a quality print. Nowadays people use Photoshop or similar software.
Some people set themselves very high standards. The late Henri Cartier-Bresson (possibly the greatest photographer ever) always printed the whole frame of the pictures he took with his Leica, without any cropping at all - and because he was a genius at instantaneous composition the photos were wonderful. The rest of us can't do that.
Ask yourself 'Why did I take this photo?' If the reason was to portray a particular subject as clearly as possible, then a little cropping, adjustment of colour, brightness and contrast and some unsharp masking seem quite acceptable to me - provided that the result resembles the way that I perceived the subject. On the other hand a lady I know once told me that she had always wondered what she would look like if she was a witch with green hair - it didn't take me long to show her, thanks to Photoshop.
In general I try to do as little manipulation as possible, but to do it so well that no-one will know I've done any at all :lol:

Alan

[benny]

In general I try to do as little manipulation as possible, but to do it so well that no-one will know I've done any at all

I think the photo should look as natural as possible. Any visible evidence of manipulation would have ruined the photo.

But I do feel that a certain degree of manipulation is inevitable, especially for aquatic photography.

In our quest to present the fish in a manner that's as true as possible, we have to take into consideration the colors that it should looked like. Very often, we shoot fishes under aquarium lights from 3000K to 12000K. This usually cause a color cast and in correcting it back to daylight (be it in the software or in the camera), that's already manipulation.

In addition, very often, the exposure is slight off but the fish is in a great position with good colors. A slight exposure manipulation will make it a masterpiece, but adhereing to a "as shot only" policy will mean that this photo is not usable.

This is actually a very debatable topic, but no conclusion will ever come of it as both sides will the camp will have their supporters. Since the old "film only" days, many have argued that dorge and burn techniques in the dark room or filters are unacceptable enhancements. This debate is not different from using Photoshop with digital photos.

Let's shoot more instead.

Cheers,

[meriadoc]

unless you're shooting with slides- there's always going to be some form of manipulation. :)

I'll normally go as far as tweaking to best make the image look presentable, normally a brightness/contrast/levels adjustment - but its amazing what just a slight contrast adjustment can do :)

-- Lisa