I’ve discussed this topic in the past but I believe it needs to be revisited from time to time. Photography is one of the few art forms where we have a divide in mindsets over the process of creating a photograph. The divide is between post-processing and no post-processing, the anti-Photoshop snobs. (Note: I use the term Photoshop noun for Adobe Photoshop or any program that is similar.)
Why anti-Photoshop photographers are snobs
This may be a question you ask when I choose to call the anti-Photoshop photographers snobs, so I’ll explain my choice of words. Dictionary.com defines a snob as; 2. a person who believes himself or herself an expert or connoisseur in a given field and is condescending toward or disdainful of those who hold other opinions or have different tastes regarding this field:
If the discussion comes up between the pro-Photoshop photographer and the anti-Photoshop photographer we often get to the “I get it right in the camera” comment. This is just another way imply that the pro-Photoshop photograper is always just “fixing” an image because they got it wrong. To me, the photographer that says this clearly doesn’t understand photography, film or digital. These people never really worked a darkroom with dodging, burning, pushing/pulloing film, or any of the other advanced darkroom techniques.
The great master, Ansel Adams wrote a three book series, The Camera, The Negative, and The Print. Two of the three books are solely dedicated acheiving the final printed image, or 2/3s of the process of creating an image. Two thirds!
The goal isn’t to “get it right in the camera”
The anti-Photoshop crowd that argues they “get it right in the camera” don’t realize the goal isn’t to “get it right” because what is right? Who decides what is “right”?
Film and digital photography both have limits on the dynamic range they can record. Our eyes have a dynamic range of 21 stops of light. Typically, the best our cameras can do is about 15 stops of light, so I have to make a decision on what is “right” and with knowledge can split the difference if I want and bring back those stops I’ve lost.
Another issue. We see selectively. Have you ever taken a photograph and when you looked at the image later on see something you didn’t see at the time? I have. The best example I can remember was a nighttime photograph of a train station. I setup my tripod, camera, cable release, composed the composition, took the shot. When I got home and began to go through the evenings images, I realized the photograph I just knew was going to be the perfect photograph of the train station at night, I see something on one of the stations window frames. I zoom in, it’s a soda cup. I didn’t see it before when I took the shot.
I have seen very few, and I mean very few “straight out of the camera”, “I got it right in camera” images that I would say are fantastic.
The real reason for anti-post-processing
I can’t help but believe the real reason why these anti-post-processing people are sometimes so adamant about their hatred for Photoshop is it is a self-defense mechanism. They don’t know how to do it, they don’t want to admit they don’t understand something, so it is wrong and I am better because I don’t have to do it.
The bottom line
If you are like me and do post-processing using Photshop/Lightroom/or anything similar don’t worry abou the haters. They’re just envious of our ability to perform tasks they cannot perform or understand. Do your thing. Take your photographs and process away, we are the true photographic artists.
Photographer Clay 
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