Originally posted by Knock I'm curious to know how many people edit their photos. I've heard people say that every photo needs some editing. I've also heard people say that editing is cheating and takes away from learning to take the proper exposure. Personally, I'm not a fan of editing--not because I think I'm a purist or anything, but mainly because I'm terrible at it! I do not own Lightroom or Photoshop. I have GIMP (because it was free--I'm on a budget). I am not very good with computers and operating software. GIMP isn't very easy to use, but it seems that I tinker with the photos too much and end up with an over processed piece of crap. After going through this frustration a few times, I now tend to just stay away from editing. I've heard that Lightroom is pretty user friendly. Is it worth the investment or should I keep trying to get the perfect exposure? Your opinions are appreciated.
I edit every single image although some of the editing is actually done in batch. If you shoot raw, not editing is like buying great food and then not cooking it but dumping it on a plate raw, straight out of the supermarket shopping bag.
Some images need more than just a cursory edit, there are worlds out there to conquer! With other images, the image "as shot" is just the basis for a creative endresult I have in mind. I use GIMP, ImageMagick, LuminanceHDR, DigiKam and more open-source image editing and manipulation software.
Whether I do well or not is not for me to judge, have a look at
Flickr: newmikey's Photostream
As to your question: ANY image editor needs the input of what you call "the perfect exposure" to obtain the best endresult, whether you use GIMP, Lightroom or any other product - there really are no shortcuts. You can attempt to save over- or under-exposed images or those with other issues but this is still very much a GiGo process - garbage in equals garbage out. This is not an either/or proposition, you learn to expose correctly AND to process correctly in order to get the best out of your camera gear.