Is it photoshopped?

This is a typical question: when you see a picture, and specially if it is a stunning one, the first thought that comes to us is: "This is photoshopped".
It is important to think about what we consider "photoshopped": any given picture you can see anywhere is photoshopped somehow. Even that picture you took with your mobile phone and uploaded on your social network. No, you did not do anything, but the picture has been edited.

When a picture is taken, the camera decides which color temperature, contrast and saturation are the optimal for the picture. You just do not see the process. Therefore, it is important to have two clear concepts: Photoshopped and Enhanced.



Photoshopped is a picture that has been modified by adding or removing items that were not there originally: a person sunbathing in the beach, or adding yourself into a picture. That is photoshopping.

Enhanced is a picture that has undergone adjustments in color, contrast, or saturation (among other details that can be adjusted). This does not change the picture itself, it just adjusts the settings to make it better.

Enhancing pictures has been done since photography existed: when you took a picture with your analogic camera, you would send the negative to the store (or process it yourself), and get the picture in that glossy paper. It was usual that some people would prefer to take it to one store rather than other, because they liked the result more. This different results were due to different processing, or editing. But... just think for a second. Have you ever cut a printed photo because you wanted it to show only one part of it? Then, you have already edited it!
It is true, however, that there is a really thin line between heavy editing and light photoshopping: is it too different to remove a person from a paradise beach from removing a dust spot in the picture? Or from changing the color temperature to make that sunset more colorful? This is an ongoing debate, and there are different opinions about the topic. What do you think? Is any kind of edition already photoshopping?

In my next post, I will explain how to edit a northern light picture. There are few steps that are interesting to follow and will make a nice picture look gorgeous. Here you have the beginning picture and the final one, keep tuned!

Beginning picture. ISO 1250, f=2.8, 13 seconds

Final picture. ISO 1250, f=2.8, 13 seconds

Note: these two concepts are named here for explanatory purposes. Photoshopped has been used (and misused) for any kind of photo adjustment, and what I call "Edited" can be also considered "Enhanced" or "Adjusted", among others.