From diethealth
Photoshop is such a big part of a photographer’s repertoire today, helping to bring out the best in your pictures, especially when you shoot in RAW. But there is a post processing in Photoshop that is controversial: that of digital manipulation. As it’s name implies, you use Photoshop to manipulate [with all the negative connotations attached to the word] a photo to look better than you actually took it.
There are photographers who will openly tell you that they photoshop their pictures to the point of digital manipulation — and even beyond — and I’m fine with that. They are honest, take great pictures, are wonderful artists, and what they hang on their walls are works of art.
Then there are those who won’t tell you but quietly let you believe they actually took those wonderful photos — when the truth is they digitally manipulated them. I know I shouldn’t (and far from me to pass judgment) but I can’t help feeling somewhat manipulated myself when that happens. I believe a certain amount of transparency is healthy for a photographer. You don’t have to reveal all your secrets but any post processing beyond cropping, adjusting levels and sharpening may fall under the “digital manipulation” label and may be worth mentioning.
Fashion photography and celebrity photography are almost always digitally manipulated to the point of absurdity, as the above video shows.
Anyway, what do you think? Feel free to weigh in wit your comments.