But where do you draw the line? Spot removal? Color correction? Sharpening? Some photographers have no rules other than getting a "best", most aesthetically pleasing image; we've all seen those photos. Purists, on the other hand, will present an image out of the box, letting their subject stand on its own merits. Most of us are somewhere in between, but knowing where to draw the line is tricky.
Here are two images of some wet-mounted larvae found in a birdbath. Both are 8 image stacks taken in brightfield are processed identically other than the lower has an added dropped shadow:
No subject details have been added to the lower image. A few questions:
- Does the shadow add anything to the photo that shouldn't be there?
- Does your expertise in microscopy change how you see such photos versus how a non-expert would?
- Do you ever get suspicious of those "perfect" microscopy photos? (Nikon Small World, I'm looking at you!)
- What are your limits when post processing your images?
On the other hand, some people just don't know when to stop.