What's your opinion about post-processing of photos? Some say that they never process their photos and that they come straight out of the camera. Others turn their photos into fine artworks. I am kind of in the middle. I'm not skilled enough to produce a masterpiece by blending countless layers and drawings and what not in Photoshop but I'm pretty okay with making my photos "look mine", if you get what I mean.
An example:
Did I cheat by boosting the contrast, bringing down the shadows and making the highlights brighter?
My personal choice is the processed picture. It brings the beautiful veins of the leaf, so I don't feel guilty about pushing it. I'm pleased with it. The original one is okay. I'm happy with the captured detail but I have underexposed it. Better lighting would've helped but alas, I was still pretty inexperienced.
I like to peocess photos sometimes but I am not professional when it comes to taking photos. I like to make them to look pleasant to my eye. Original photos are often very good so I don't have to change anything.