Photoshop or not?

When you look at a view that really makes your jaw hit the floor, and then take a photo of it, do you think the photo really does it justice? does it make you feel how you did when you saw the view, when you were standing looking at it for real?    i don't, and its because we see in 3 dimensions, also we have peripheral vision, we see a whole lot more than a camera lens could ever pick up, our eyes are far superior to any camera lens, you then have to add in all the other senses, smell hearing etc... it all adds to the overall effect. When you get to the top of a mountain and just look at the view it really can take your breath away, you know it'll never look half as good on the photo as it does at that moment, so increasing the colours slightly can bring some of that depth back and give a little of the feeling from the moment back, agreed, most of it should be done in the camera, i do try to get the settings as i want the picture to look, but i see photoshop as a digital darkroom, people have always altered photos, because it can make them feel more as they were at that moment, just as an artist paints a picture, he/she puts the feeling of that moment in it.

Having said all that, i'm really not critizising people that choose not to use it, or people that do!! its the choice of the person taking the picture, its their image, their own feeling of the moment they took the picture, which is good, and would be a shame if everyone thought the same or took the same images in the same way.

Jason said, ''When you get to the top of a mountain and just look at the view it really can take your breath away, you know it'll never look half as good on the photo as it does at that moment, so increasing the colours slightly can bring some of that depth back and give a little of the feeling from the moment back, agreed, most of it should be done in the camera.''

Blimey Jason. In my very humble opinion the only thing lacking would be a bit of contrast, not colour. A polarizing filter is also a good option, I have one myself.

 '' its because we see in 3 dimensions, also we have peripheral vision, we see a whole lot more than a camera lens could ever pick up, our eyes are far superior to any camera lens''

But if you have photoshop surely a good crop will help, ridding the picture of anything you don't want and concentrating on areas of interest.

As I said in my earlier post, nature gives us an overwhelming array of beautiful colours and my preference is to keep to the original colours, I think my camera does that OK for me. The polarizer enhances the colour, but it doesn't change them, that to me is a lot easier than editing my picture with enhancements such as saturation, especially when only one area needs to be 'coloured'.

Again though, this is just my personal preference...as you know Jason, I very much admire your pictures and so do many others here so it's all down to personal taste.

Andy.

Yeah i use a polarising filter too, there pretty good. And i do leave it at that quite often, if i think it works well.

Don't think we'll every really agree though Andy, but thats not a bad thing, like i said before, it would be a sad boring world if we all viewed it the same, and done the same things,  although i see where your coming from, i too agree with the fact nature provides fantastic colours etc... but just feel a camera can't always capture that beauty, it can't do it justice.

But if you have photoshop surely a good crop will help, ridding the picture of anything you don't want and concentrating on areas of interest.

It can do,  but, i'm talking about the way we see, i have never seen any photo that quite matches up to a 'real' view, actually standing looking at it myself. But my absolute favorite photos, by photographers far far far better than i'll ever be, have all been photoshopped, not heavily, but enough to bring the wow factor back that i think can be lost in the camera sometimes.

You have some fantastic photos on here Andy, so don't think i'm saying otherwise, i'm not, honest, i'm not judging anybody's photos, just stating my opinion.