Originally Posted by Big E

I think this thread fascinating, but I find myself disagreeing with some people here.

Now, I'm no photographer, but I do have a basic understanding of photography and I deal with very high-end glamour photography so I know what's good and what's not.

To me, just being able to take a photograph properly doesn't make a good photographer. With some good basic equipment, anyone with basic photography knowledge (such as myself) should be able to take a quality photograph (properly lit, in focus, cropped perfectly, etc). That's the EAST part of taking a picture (funny, some "photographers" can't even seem to get that right).

A TRUE photographer has the creativity to fill out the photograph: the backdrop, the backlighting, the pose(s), etc. THAT'S where good photographers are defined (at least by me).

As far as Photoshop goes, sure, every image SHOULD be touched up in PhotoShop, but not because of anything the photographer does. Color, lighting or cropping shouldn't be a part of the post-production. You might pump up some colors in the backdrop, touch up blemishes or reduce some wrinkles/bags/whatever, but that's nothing the photographer could have fixed before or during the picture.

I see people posting shit pictures all the time on GFY and it makes me laugh. There are really only a handful of GOOD photographers (such as Dean Capture, AaronM, among others) here: people that know how to light, know how to pose, know how to frame, and how to really make a beautiful photograph, and I guarentee you, they didn't do it in Photoshop.