[Dotita]

Originally Posted by dakwegmo

The question of whether you need to photoshop your photos in order to create good images is a somewhat personal decision.

I, for example, feel I do need to photoshop my photos in order for them to be good. I shoot RAW, so without processing my photos through Photoshop, Nikon Capture, or some other photo manipulation program my photos "out of camera" aren't worth looking at. They're incomplete. If you're happy with the JPGs your camera creates then you don't need to photoshop them.

When I first started shooting I was pretty happy with the way the JPGs looked out of the camera, but I eventually got the point where I wanted more control over the final image than was available through my camera's menu. I stopped letting the camera make all the decisions about white balance, contrast, and saturation. There's an analogy here between shooting Manual vs. Auto and shooting RAW vs. JPG. In manual and RAW you make the decisions. In Auto and JPG the camera makes the decisions.

As far as non-RAW adjustments, then I still think that's a personal choice. I've found that with photoshop I can rescue a lot of images that might have otherwise been scrapped. I can also get much closer to my creative vision by applying some post processing techniques, rather than relying on camera technique alone.

Lastly, I don't think there's anything wrong with using photoshop, any more than it would be for photographers to apply post processing effects in a wet darkroom. I also very gladly tell people that all of my photos are Photoshopped.

Do what works for you, and don't worry too much about what others think about your techniques.

Very Nicely said. I couldn´t have said it better.
I mean I strongly agree with you. Specially when you say "I eventually got the point where I wanted more control over the final image..."
That is exactly why I photoshop all my pictures, even if is just some saturation or croping. But I´ve also been surprised with SOME (I mean like 10 out of 3000) that come out the camara just the way I wanted. And then I keep the original and start messing with the image with some cool ovarlays or cross-process...