Proud to be a Photoshop-Freak

I've been getting questions why I like Photoshop so much. The reactions were mixed - many liked what I did and then there's a handful who thinks Photoshop are for people who can't produce beautiful pictures with a shutter-click.

It's either that, or they're just Photoshop-dumb to begin with.

A Greek architecture in one of London's museum - I darkened the surroundings and gave the colors on the structure a feel of Roman mystique and glow. Without editing, the picture couldn't (I believe) be dramatic as it should be.

It's ignorant of a person to say, I feel, that just because I like to edit pictures to give the colors a little " pop" here and there, that I'm not creative, that I haven't got an eye for a good picture or that I can't appreciate the real beauty in an un-edited picture. I simply feel sometimes I need to do justice to potentially beautiful pictures that otherwise would remain dull and shoved under the "Bad Stock Images" folder, never to be looked at again.

But please don't get me wrong with this - I'm not here to justify why we should or should not edit our pictures in Photoshop. That's up to each individual's preferences.

I played with highlight and shadow settings with this picture. I like how it turned out, especially since if gone without editing, this mosque would have look particularly dull.

Photoshop or not, editing a picture is still editing. So you claim that the only editing you would do is to adjust color, contrast or level so you would say you're not a Photoshop-freak. Oh yeah, sure I do that,too - but I do that with Photoshop. I mean I could have just use the automated button on ACDSee - but I think that's for people who are lazy and dare I say it - uncreative with creativeness. I would feel like I'm limiting the possibilities, that's all.

Spin it any other way you like, the bottom line is you EDIT. Just not with Photoshop.

With that said, I can live without editing my pictures whether it's in Photoshop or any other application software. I can leave a picture that already has wonderful colors or composition, completely untouched. And yes, I do have the ability to agree with others who advocate the simplicity and the originality of pictures as being the more impressive element of a picture when compared to an edited one. But you must learn as well to agree with some of us who thinks sometimes a little editing here and there can still emulate the same "impressive" factor, all the same.

This sunset scene I took a few weeks ago on the beach is one amongst many pictures that I have left untouched because of its sheer beauty naturally.

I understand, nevertheless, not all will be open towards my muse. And there's no forcing it, either. My boyfriend has his mixed reactions towards my editing - sometimes he really likes it and sometime he'd say ,"Beb, that's a little too much".

Most of the time, I'd ignore him. =p

So call me a Photoshop-freak, whatever. Editing is still editing, even by any other name.