StanGoldstein
Good editing makes ordinary pictures good and good pictures great!
asiaseen
Editing is absolutely essential; cropping to balance the composition; adjusting the light and correcting colour; cleaning up the odd bits of dirt and scratches and so on. If you have ever worked with a RAW image, it becomes very obvious why you edit. In the old days of analogue (film) photography the editing was done by the printer (there were few photographers who actually did their own printing even amongst the big names). A parallel is in the printed word. No author worth the name would dream of going to print without the aid of an editor. Just look around on the internet (not so much here on this site) and see how many pictures would be vastly improved with a little competent editing.
KatrinaWhite
I don't personally enjoy the process of editing but I think it's important. But my goal in photography is not realism/honesty. I work with my models to create a piece of art with aesthetic beauty.
asiaseen
Another aspect of editing is weeding out the pictures that don't quite make the grade or are repetitious. You can see the problem on, for instance, DeviantArt where many people post a whole string of photographs that are simply very slight variations in pose of viewpoint. The result is boring and demonstrates a lack of courtesy to one's audience.
asiaseen
Correction; pose or viewpoint
charlie61074
Editing is Totally Essential for commercial reasons. No matter what the product. Whatever it is - be it photos, literature, or live content - SOME editing is necessary to appeal to the audience the end result is aimed towards. ;-)
jarod73
Thank you for the comments!! Currently I adjust lighting, color (it changes the mood of a photo!), and crop, I guess I could work on other aspects as well. You all are awesome!! The main thing when I think of editing is some work i've seen is over edited and the subject comes out looking like a plastic doll, that really bothers me and my eyes tend to gravitate to the heavily edited spots. A model/friend of mine has an idea for a photoset (I don't know if we will be able to find a location to do it) that I think may require a lot adjusting so it's something i've wanting to get other opinions on. The only other photographer that I know personally (he's been pro for about 20 years) that does similar work to mine, also has a similar viewpoint to me on editing (though I think I actually adjust photos more than he does), hence why I posed the question :)
iseekbeauty
I always strive for my work to look "real" as well, but always do some editing to optimize lighting, color balance, cropping if needed, and sometimes to remove distracting things that take away from the subject. And two thumbs up on the comment by @asiaseen about carefully choosing the best shots to from an image set. I've seen a lot of shooters who dilute otherwise solid work by keeping so-so shots in the mix. Better to have a small set of strong shots than a big set that has a lot of middling work in it. And, why not start by posting your portfolio HERE!! Just click this http://www.diverxity.com/settings/portfolio and upload!! ;-) --Lou
jarod73
I completely agree with @asiaseen about the huge sets! It sounds like the bit I do is not far off from what most of the responses have been, I appreciate and applaud this awesome community!! :)