Food for thought and courtesy of dpchallenge.com; "Basic Editing IV Rules":

Image Modification and Content Rules


"Post-shot Adjustments may be made to your image in a photo editing program, so long as the modification is applied to the whole image. This includes levels, conversion to black and white, hue/saturation, sizing/rotating, curves and cropping (or their non-Photoshop equivalents)."


Some more.. to bring home the point of what constitutes editing vs. 'manipulation';

"Filters: The use of filters (or non-Photoshop equivalent) is strictly limited. Any filter or stand-alone utility designed and used to preserve the integrity of the image and/or reduce the effects of noise, scratches, etc, are permitted. These include but are not limited to the Sharpen, Unsharp Mask, and Dust & Scratches filters, and standalone image cleanup utilities such as NeatImage. However, no effects filters may be applied to your image, with the exception of Noise and Gaussian Blur, which are allowed. Any filter permitted by this rule must be applied uniformly to the entire image. Selective application of any filter is prohibited."


"Layers: Only Adjustment Layers (or the non-Photoshop equivalent) may be used. An Adjustment Layer is one that does not contain any pixel data, but rather is a special, non-image layer that lets you experiment with color and tonal adjustments to an image without permanently modifying the pixels."

Other than following rules for entry in a contest, Les, does it really matter? To me it's all art, whether it's a photo, illustration, or whatever. It's the end result that matters. Many years ago in the Mesozoic era, when I was a fine art major in college, I spent loads of hours at my easel working in acrylics. Today I can have almost the same result in minutes, using Photoshop, and I think it's the coolest thing since my Popeye Pez dispenser.

-Nik

Question has been asked a number of times by a number of members, Nik.

And there was one prior and somewhat recent'ish discussion thread on just this note, so, thought the above might provide some clarification to that member.

As well, point out how other sites approach the 'edit/post processing, or, manipulation?' question.


The more obvious reasons, to me anyways.. simplifies the task of curating the site galleries. And in turn, visitors to the site.. when viewing certain galleries ... can be assured of what they are viewing (i.e. a photo, not a manipulation).

If 'post editing' is considered 'manipulation' I would venture to guess that the number of totally unmanipulated images on the site would be very few.
For instance - if I isolated a sky in order to de-noise that area (selective application)then should my image be posted in the 'manipulation' category ? Or if I cloned out an offending object? I doubt any visitor would be put off any image by a suspicion it may have been tampered with in that way.

I see the point if a photo image were entered into a Contest/Challenge but for the purposes of providing attractive wallpaper images I don't, so long as the original image stays intact and not significantly manipulated by being altered, added to or changed.

Same goes for turning an image into a B&W..Monochrome..Sepia..Orton etc....the list is endless..

Curious about this image of yours, Bob, over on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79958073@N05/8168955234/in/photostream


Did you get Jeff's; aka imbusion's permission to post your version of his original from Caedes.net?

Found here:

http://www.caedes.net/Zephir.cgi?lib=Caedes::Infopage&image=imbusion-1164522801.jpg

Yes!...But this nothing to do with you or ceades though!

It would appear that you deleted the image noted above, Bob?

Don't look @ me...I draw most of the time...

As Les alluded above, whole image filters mostly have non-digital equivalents. E.g., a red filter on a B&W conversion is a technique I used back in the days of paper and chemicals. Likewise, selective burn or dodge is an old technique, as is adding a vignette. These, like contrast brightness changes or blur are not manipulations.

Where manipulation comes in is in the replacement of elements with other ones, such as replacing a bland sky with one from another scene. I think if the change is small then a nod to what has been done suffices and it still is not a manipulation, to me anyways. Large scale changes, merging images make it a manipulation.

So what is the implication? Is this principally for the purpose of choosing what category you post the image under because surely a manipulated photo is as much art as a fractal which is a manipulated mathematical expression.

I don't think it necessarily determines where an image is placed, at least not in my mind. A seascape, even if manipulated, is still a seascape. If the image has been mangled beyond recognition through manipulation, or is a combination of two or more images to produce something that was not either of the original ones, then that should be placed firmly in the 'manipulation' section. If there have been large 'edits' such as, say, a sky replacement, then my personal opinion is that this should be acknowledged, even if only for the benefit of helping aspiring photographers/artists to learn, otherwise they might think that something is possible when it is not.

Manipulated images can be just as artful, if not more so, than a simple image, and are to be encouraged, in my mind, as they often produce something goes beyond that of a simple image.

Curious about ANOTHER image of yours, Bob, over on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/79958073@N05/8497315212/in/photostream


Did you get Michael's; aka photoimagery's permission to post your version of his original from Caedes.net?

Found here:

http://www.caedes.net/Zephir.cgi?lib=Caedes::Infopage&image=photoimagery-1122268793.jpg

PM sent:

Remove it.. now.

Who is sixblade knife? I looked in wallpaper search. There is no comment from this person in this discussion.

Comment has been deleted, however.. will still show the user/member if one views the discussion boards.

That is.. until a subsequent posting is posted to whichever discussion thread.