Following on from my last post, this same question arises to what version of this photograph represents the view that I or anyone else would have seen at that time of day on that particular day?

The two versions are so different. And it’s just a matter of moving some sliders in Photoshop to get one image rather than the other.

It’s a pertinent question for landscape photographer, which I don’t say that I am.

As long as the image itself is not so manipulated as to be simply untruthful – such as by taking out trees or adding trees or whatever – then does it matter how I arrive at the image that pleases me?

The only criterion is, at least in my view, what do I want the final image to be like?

And if that is the case, then taking the photograph and processing the photograph are part of the whole. And it’s not possible to say that everything beyond the point at which the photograph is taken is an adulteration or whatever you want to call it.

I mean just look at these two images and then say whether one is right or wrong compared to the other. I mean it’s impossible to do so.