Post processing and "unoriginal"

[naeno]

I've heard this arguement again and again. The majority of individuals who have a "problem" with photoshop / post-processing either don't have much experience in photography or have just gotten their new DSLR and truly think you can get every photo perfect SOOC. (I was one of those who was in the latter group about 2 years ago!) Post-processing is just part of this game we call photography,

Having said that, it is very important to learn what your camera can do and how it works to get as good of photos out of your camera as possible.

[PowerPix]

Ask your friend if he washes his car? Sure it might drive fine and all, but does it look better washed?

People don't understand that digital information slowly degrades when you move it from place to place. i.e. camera to computer. You will lose crispness, color etc. etc.

[wulf]

I'd give him two words. No! Not those two! I was thinking of "dark" and "room". Yes, I know "darkroom" is one word but if someone equates developing digital photos with "cheating" then more than one syllable at a time might confuse them...

Wulf

[jorf]

There is/was a wonderful show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC recently - Robert Frank's The Americans from 1958. Wonderful B&W's. There were plenty of finished prints but also some proof sheets and initial prints. You could really see how much "post processing" went on in the dark room.

There are certainly things we can do in PS or other programs to completely change pictures - putting someone in another setting, having people flying in the air around a room, etc - but the basic "fixes" really aren't much different than what was done in the darkroom.

In fact, there was one photo at, I think, a state fair or something and in the foreground was a flag - it was pretty transparent and the scene at the fair was visible through it. These days, someone would have said, "photoshoped". But it wasn't.

[Aegea]

Different types of lens on the same body will produce slightly different color and brightness, even if the focal length and aperture is the same. So which version is the "true" photograph?

I tend to agree with the earlier posters' assessments of your friend's mental ability.