# Is Photoshopping pics cheating?



## manda (Jul 6, 2003)

Your thoughts please?

I recently had some Holga camera shots developed(for a very hefty price I must say) and I tweaked the colours in Photshop for some, to display online.
I dont always do it with my digital shots but when I do, I always feel like Im cheating by doing it.

Is it cheating or is it accepted?


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## photobug (Jul 6, 2003)

Ansel Adams was arguably one of the great photographers of all time.

I'd be surprised if Ansel ever met a negative he didn't feel he could "improve" before printing it.

Photoshop (or the program of your choice) is simply an electronic version of a darkroom. That there is no chemical smell/mess involved merely makes it more available to more people.

Acceptable? More like mandatory if you want "perfect" images.

Jim


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## Chase (Jul 6, 2003)

Very well said, photobug, I definitely could not have said it better. 

I believe that is 100% correct!


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## Dew (Jul 6, 2003)

sometimes i feel like its cheating too ... but for me, sometimes its neccesary  :roll:


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## dlc (Jul 6, 2003)

It isn't cheating if it improves the image, but I have seen photos that have been photoshoped to death, and looked like something that could never be captured in camera.  This is what I don't like about digital manipulation.


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## voodoocat (Jul 6, 2003)

I wondered the same thing.  Then I realized :idea:  if I had something to work with, it would come out fine using photoshop.  If I didn't, no amount of photoshopping would make it that good.


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## Armageddon Machine (Jul 7, 2003)

I think photoshop is for cheaters...


So I use paint shop pro 7  lol jk

I do't really think it's cheating. I guess sometimes you have that 'perfect shot', but there is a fire hydrant or power line in the background, and you can't verywell take those out physically.

Like with this:
Fixed:






Unedited





At a glace, can you tell that there was a light pole behind the far wing, where the tree under it is? and there was bird poop on the wing too.. hehe, do I ever love Paint Shop Pro...


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## MDowdey (Jul 7, 2003)

Armageddon Machine said:
			
		

> I think photoshop is for cheaters...
> 
> 
> So I use paint shop pro 7  lol jk





 
 
 
 

md


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## TwistMyArm (Jul 7, 2003)

Sometimes I find that scanned photos just don't look like the originals so I'll try to edit it to look like the original. I feel going to drastic measures like in the photos that Armageddon posted is definitely cheating.


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## Dew (Jul 7, 2003)

looking at the before and after photos Armageddon  ... i would have taken the light fixture out ... its too distracting  :?


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## dlc (Jul 7, 2003)

I think that AM did it right.  He didn't change the image, he made it better.  It could have been the picture in camera either way.  No one would have known the difference if he hadn't told us.


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## mrsid99 (Jul 7, 2003)

Great work AM..you certainly made a point and beautifully done too!


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## Armageddon Machine (Jul 7, 2003)

TwistMyArm said:
			
		

> Sometimes I find that scanned photos just don't look like the originals so I'll try to edit it to look like the original. I feel going to drastic measures like in the photos that Armageddon posted is definitely cheating.



I would actually say it's cheating, too. Only if the Light fixture was avoidable. But since I very well can't move the statue or the light fixture to get that shot, I really hadn't another choice. I think it photoshopping is done *right* it isn't bad at all. With todays technology, it's merely another tool -- more equipment. You use a macro lens to get really close shots, and you use photoshop to clean up photos.

Thanks for all the input, too  I'm a paint shop addict.


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## oriecat (Jul 7, 2003)

I think I am fairly alone here in my revulsion to digital manipulation.   I don't necessarily think it's cheating, but then there comes a point where I don't think it can any longer be labeled as photography.  I'm not going to say where that line is, but for example, if I already have a finished print that I created the old fashioned way and I want to share it online, I don't really have a problem with working with it after scanning just to make sure that it looks onscreen the way the original looks.  But photo- means light.  Photography is about capturing light, manipulating light, making images from light.  Once you're playing with it in your computer, you're not playing with light, you're playing with data.  You can make some beautiful, wonderful images.  Call it a mixed media print, call it digitally altered images.  But to me, they aren't photographs anymore.

Yes, I know I am a purist freak.   Someday I might join the 21st century...


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## nikon90s (Jul 7, 2003)

I think it is just another tool to use,  I took a photo class where I had a nice darkroom to use I must say the pics i took out of that darkroom where so much better then if i took the film to the one hour photo lab. 
nikon90s


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## mrsid99 (Jul 7, 2003)

Technically by using PS or similar you're still ultimately capturing, manipulating and producing images with light.
 Does using filters and playing with printing techniques make regular photography any less valid?
 If we just discussing terminology here and trying to define at what point it becomes something other than a photograph then we'll never be able to agree.
 Oriecat's comments are perfectly valid but so is AM for "perfecting" his shot.
    Bottom line is that if it works for you just do it.


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## oriecat (Jul 7, 2003)

mrsid99 said:
			
		

> Bottom line is that if it works for you just do it.



Oh absolutely! I forgot to preface my comments with the fact that I have no problem with people doing whatever they gotta do.  It's just for myself... I can't do it...


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## mrsid99 (Jul 7, 2003)

Oh go on.....force yourself!


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## oriecat (Jul 7, 2003)

Back off, man!! I've still got windows 95, ok?!  That's gotta tell you something!


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## mrsid99 (Jul 7, 2003)

And I thought I was a reactionary!
 As I said before..whatever floats yer boat!
 Have fun and keep taking whatever pictures makes you happy.
 Peace Bro'!


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## RRose (Jul 7, 2003)

I don't think it's cheating if used like a darkroom.  I would like very much to learn more about editing programs.  I will say that the best print I've made this year was just as it came from the camera, no editing at all.  Lucky I guess.


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## davidbeckphoto (Aug 27, 2017)

Nope, those are the tools at hand. I do believe you should be honest about your process, but outside of that, nothing is cheating when it comes to making art.


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## pixmedic (Aug 27, 2017)

Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk


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