How much is too much? (Fajitas welcome)

Morrisseeee

Pretty much everything of mine i shoot digitally has the same preset applied in lightroom, which changes the colour temperature, exposure, contrast, saturation, clarity, and adds a very subtle split toning (no, colourisation. No, hang on, split tone. No, duotone...). They end up looking fairly different from what the shot looks like with all the settings at 0

I guess thats what the OP is asking, have you stepped over the imaginary 'line' ? At this stage that line (and it does exist for me) is getting so blurred I'm seeing bokeh

So which is 'purer'?

Well, I'd say the original Polaroid, as it had its own qualities and produced its own results, and that can't be reproduced or faked (OMG Elven is a fake :eek::p).
For me there's definitely a distinction between capturing that special 'moment' on a camera (film or sensor) and going into photoshop or otherwise and 'producing' an xxxxx. Both are works of art, and rightly so, and I use both, but to say both are a photograph very much undermines the skill of the photographer who used his camera and knowledge to get that 'prize winning' shot.

mindundalk

elven wrote: »

As paul said, depends on the purpose, and what the client wants if it's commercial.

If it's for your own fun, you have to make that decision for yourself, it's a purely personal thing. And over time, your ideas will probably change too.

I couldn't agree more..... as time moves on so does your taste, i speak from personal experience as when i started i felt like you did but now i want to make things as best that they can be and the fashion world influences the things we do every day.