Many people like to play with Photoshop to create some great effects for their pictures. No problem, as long as those pictures aren't published or they are so modified that we can easily tell they are not the image that came directly from the camera.
Examples of obvious modification would be something larger or small than its normal size, colors different from what we would expect to see (a red river or bright green waterfall), or something superimposed or added into the scene.
For me, a long time photographer that has performed some pretty neat special effects in the darkroom over the years, I don't like Photoshop or any of the other photo editting programs. I know that cropping and lightening of the image can help in displaying it - and this can work in many cases without detracting from the original image that was captured.
Now, that all of the Photoshop enthusiastics are throughly irritated with my position, let me explain what the issue really is.
When I look at someone's post of a picture, or when a consumer looks at it, we want to believe that this what the subject actually looks like - that if we went to where the picture was taken we would see essentially the same thing.
I don't want to see a high school graduation picture of a 40-something person. Same principle.
When i look at some pictures that are posted, I catch myself trying to determine if it's a real image or an enhanced one.
Remember that old Bluebonnet margarine commercial "It's not nice to fool Mother nature"? I like to know that what I am viewing is the real deal - unless specifically mentioned that it is not.
I think consumers appreciate this also.
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