To PP or not to PP, that is the question

[SwissJon]

There's so many opinions about post processing, so I was wondering what yours was. People seem to use it in a variety of way, some won't touch it and like their pictures to be "pure", some for retouching, getting rid of digital noise and sharpening, losing errent power cables etc. Some use it as a rescue aid, to help fix up their photo and do in the computer what they weren't able to do in the field, more use it as an artistic aid, to add colours and HDR and so on that weren't there in the first place, and some use it as an essential part of turning an image into art, chopping and adding images togther to create things that are basically impossible in real life, images in images, moons and stars in peoples bedrooms and an endless variety of other artistic ideas.

So what are you and what tool do you use to achieve it? I've added a poll, but feel free to add comments to this post

[i speak in math]

PP is essential if you want to be taken seriously as a photographer. If you aren't touching up your images and making them the best you can, you aren't going to be making sales. No clients look at SOOC images and ooh and aah about them.

take a look here:
http://www.perfectphotoblog.com/jewe...nd-after/2185/

If you presented the before image to a client, and someone else presented the after image, who do you think they would hire?

If you are taking images for yourself, then who cares what you do to them

I use Photoshop CS4.

[BexJarratt]

I've put retoucher because that's my main goal, although I'm not quite technically adept enough yet in camera so I tend to be more rescuing stuff at the mo.

[candidrachel]

I like to touch up. Don't worry I have warm hands

[Jim Poor]

I PP 2-3 times per day - more often if I've had a lot of water.

[NicoleScraps]

I picked the 2nd option. I try really hard to get my photos to look good SOOC but that doesn't always happen. Mostly I find myself adjusting white balance, exposure, clarity and stuff like that. Sometime I need to clone out distracting things. I have the skills to do more complex processing, but I don't really like the "not real" look.

[Wasabinski]

Before getting my first DSLR I did not retouch. But since my photos are for my own enjoyment, after getting my hands on Lightroom 3 I usually retouch them to my own liking

[OsmosisStudios]

Depends what you refer to as post-processing.

I develop all my RAW files, and that can get fairly laborious just in the developing stage. From there there's the whole "how much work do I do in photoshop", which can range anywhere from a simple sharpening pass to a full-on edit with several files.

This also doesnt take into account focus stacking (for close-ups, products, as well as landscapes) or stitching (panoramas, large-format). These two both take extra steps in both the RAW development stage and the photoshop stage.

[RichardTaylor]

Always (I shoot RAW), even if it just sharpening for web or print.

See this thread re Post processing.
Does anyone not photoshop?

[BuddhaPi]

Originally Posted by candidrachel

I like to touch up. Don't worry I have warm hands

we have a winner!!!!