Thanks for sharing your latest Waits River shot Arnold. You had a nice blue sky day to photograph this scene. It's interesting to see other photographers shots of the scene. Unfortunately, the day I was there was a showery overcast day. As you can see in my photo, I have also done a lot of cloning out the wires and the STOP sign. This was probably the biggest job that I have ever done cloning out distracting objects.
To answer Andy's question about photo manipulation, I think if it's going to enhance the overall image, I don't have a problem cleaning up any distractions to make the image more pleasing. I know others have a problem doing this, and think the scene should be kept "as is".
I enjoy every apsect there is about photography. I enjoy being "out there" finding and taking the photographs, and I enjoy processing them almost as much as taking them. I get so much joy taking a "good" image and doing a few minor adjustments (ie: levels, curves etc) and seeing the image "pop" right before my eyes.
I recently learned how to do layers/layers mask (Thanks again Al) and it's a lot of fun, and I also recenly purchased Viveza which is a total blast. So, to answer Andy's other question, "Hoiw much post-processing are you willing to do or want to do?"..........my answer is as much as it takes. I really enjoy it, and for me, it's not a chore but yet another enjoyable part of the whole photographic process. I'm looking forward to learning even more!
Carol