Before I begin this post, please note that if you do edit your photos, THIS BLOG POST WILL PISS YOU OFF.
You have been warned.
Dictionary.com defines photography as:
“Noun: The art or practice of taking and processing photographs.”
Processing, in this context, does not mean photoshopping your pictures. It means developing your photos using a dark room and developing fluid. See, the definition of photography has never changed. It will, and should never change.
The question still stands, why do some “photographers”, as they call themselves, still edit their photos? And they don’t edit their photos with Photoshop CS5 or Lightroom. They edit them with programs like Photoscape and Picnik.
I’m not targeting everyone who edits their photos. I have nothing against edited photos, or people who edit photos. If you edit your photos for personal use or for your blog/Flickr/Tumblr/Instagram, by all means, go ahead. Some edited photos look nice. The rest, are over-edited. They remind me of those ladies who put too much make up on, and tell people they look pretty.
I remember Googling something a while back, and came across this:
"Photography is something really magical to me - capturing a still, perfect moment in time, that would otherwise have passed unnoticed, and preserving it forever. I love taking photographs of people; every face tells a story, and I think there is something profoundly beautiful in old, wise faces."
Besides learning that the person who wrote that likes taking pictures of people's faces, we now know what photography means to him. When you take a picture, you're capturing the moment. You want to show people what you see through the viewfinder. A good photo doesn't need to be edited. A good photo must simply connect with it's viewers.
If you take a great photo, you don't need to edit it. If you really feel something when you're taking photos, and then you see the final image, and it's exactly as how you imagined it in your head, and it connects with you, then that's a good photo. You don't need to modify what you see just to make it physically attractive. The most beautiful things in life are often sparked from emotions.
Do you edit your photos? Even if you do, just remember, I have absolutely nothing against you, or your picture. All that matters is that you like what you did to your picture. But if you over edit your photos, and submit them for competitions? You photo just made it onto my dislike list. Remember, I said the photo did, not you.
*The contents of this blog post are in no way directed at a specific person or group of people. This is just my personal opinion.*
