Magnificent Black and White Photos...Boston Rally 2017

[Ms. Toad]

31. My basic philosophy is that the taboo on post-processing in an electronic lab

is snobbery.

I've done extensive photography, and personally processed the photographs in both a physical and an electronic darkroom.

When B&W and the physical darkroom was popular, you made choices at a different stage. You chose and shot through filters to create the B&W mood you wanted. You added softening, sharpening, darkening, gamma correction, etc. during the physical darkroom process.

All the electronic processing does is shift when you make those choices. You capture full data - and decide what to discard in the darkroom.

There is a qualitative difference between film photography and digital photography - but I don't see a qualitative difference based on when you make your creative choices. (Making them during post-processing makes it easier to get just the image you want, because you have control over the tweaking - without having to sacrifice data before you enter the darkroom (whether electronic or physical).)

(I'm not addressing photo manipulation - such as photo restoration. That's more art than photography, and isn't the same thing as shifting the same kind of creative choices all photographers make. I do both, but I'm clear about when I'm manipulating a photo to alter reality v. when I'm post-processing (either darkroom) to evince the mood I want from my photograph.