From eHow

Today I saw a post in a Facebook group suggesting that everyone post completely unedited photos to the group. The poster felt that this would show who the really great photographers are. This shows the mistaken belief that great photographers gets the image exactly right. This is, in my opinion, romanticization of the past.

Many people interested in photography believe that the great photographers got it just right in camera. The truth is that these photographers would do a lot of what we do in the darkroom. They might cross process, push, or pull the development of the film (changing the exposure or color of the images). Then, when they printed the images in the dark room, they would often go through many attempts. They might further adjust exposure and contrast. They could add filters to adjust color. They might dodge or burn the print to get exactly the look they want. They could even combine exposures to get a completely different image. As an example of this, I suggest you watch some of these YouTube videos on Ansel Adams.