Photography Editing Styles: Are You Processing Toward Reality or Away From It?

[BigDogMatt97]

Photography editing divides broadly into two philosophies. One approach processes images toward what the scene actually looked like, correcting what the camera got wrong and producing a faithful representation. The other treats the captured image as raw material to be interpreted, colour graded, stylised, made into something that serves an aesthetic vision rather than a documentary record.

Neither is more valid. Photojournalism demands the first. Fine art photography often demands the second. Most photographers sit somewhere in between and their editing choices reveal something about what they think photography is for. Where do you sit? Do you process toward reality or away from it? And does it depend on what you're shooting?