Modified pictures ?

£650 to £700 for Photoshop 

Pixelmator cost me £13.99 and Gimp is free, I've never had a problem with either, they both do everything I need and both are easy to use, especially Pixelmator.

Some of those 'over' worked pictures of England I am seeing being submitted would be MUCH better in my eye, were they unadulterated. 

I don't mind a bit of enhancement, but some can just go over the top.

There, just my two pennies worth. 

I agree with your two pennies worth Sue.

  And do not forget the most important bit of kit in the bag- an eye for the shot.   With all the high end kit and computer trickery , it still comes down to the photographer's eye.

        As for manipulations, I have always said I stay away from photoshop type programmes, just as John said the basic microsoft programme to put right when I do not see straight or need a small trim. Oh , and of course upto recently I did have to resize so it would fit on POE ( most important). I do think we are to one degree or another very much of a similar opinion.  

Photo editing is now, like it was in the days when we had dark rooms, a way of ending up with a decent result. I used to use my hands and various simple shaped items to hold back areas of an image during the exposure of a negative onto the paper. I also used multi grade papers and a cocktail of chemicals which suited me. I did have the inclination, and made time to produce an end result I could show to others, or even get published the odd time. Photoshop is a replacement for all the aids we used to use. For me it is not cheating. 

Let 's say I go to a place to capture an image. Before going, I know roughly which way the sun will be shining and have an idea of how I will compose the shot. I get there, and it all looks just as I want, but there is a very unsightly bin stuck in the way. If I were to be a purist, I would either just take the picture, keeping the bin, move the bin risking some negative reaction from the owner, or, go back another day. I would decide to remove the offending item using skills honed with Photoshop. Is ending up with a picture minus the bin, which is probably there only once a week wrong? I don't think it is, anymore than burning in cloud detail or increasing saturation. I have digitally removed the odd wire or cable, and sometimes litter. 

If pictures are over worked at the editing stage they can look a bit daft, but pictures in dire need of attention prior to submission, are just as bad, and show a lack of time spent just looking at a picture before downloading. If you don't look at your own work a little critically, why should you expect others to be at all interested?  

I could not really fully understand the reasoning for rejecting monochrome images. Does this mean that in theory, all POE images should be in colour? Shame if that were to be the case, in my view. Of course, there are monochrome images accepted and a few of them are mine. I like "seeing" things in black and white sometimes.

Judging images is subjective, and one man's meat really is another man's poison. I fully appreciate that, and if any of my pictures are deleted or not accepted by POE I will certainly not be offended. I would like to believe that I inhabit the real world, but may be deluded.