Hi
even when u send your negatives to the lab, your pictures are already being unceremoniously edited.
the machine takes its idea of a middle gray, and then corrects your pictures according to that standard. do u really think your exposures are spot on for every shot?
in the traditional darkroom, there are a myraid of editing possibilities including dodging, burning, increase / decrease saturation, perspective correction, leveling, unsharp masking etc etc. Terms like Dodge, Burn, unsharp masking etc used in Photoshop came from / adopted from traditional darkroom terms. And like i said earlier, even your neighbourhood lab is correcting your pictures.
By the way, just to shatter the myth, there's no such thing as a Perfect Exposure. Exposure of the final image is ultimately decided by the photographer himself / herself based on the desired mood conveyed and message implied. This leads to and evokes different emotional responses from the viewers of the image, and hence the whole idea of a good exposure is subjective. A dark moody image will convey a dark forebroding mood, but is by no means a "perfect exposure" according to the camera or the printer (the person at the lab printing the images). Leaving the exposure decisions to the lab is limiting one's own creativity. Thank God for modern digital technology and digital scanning tools that helped make this entire process easier without the need for chemicals.
(Some think digtial post processing technology diminishes the the skill of a photographer somewhat, and devalues the photographer as an artist, but that's another debate for another thread)
And the accomplished photographer should not just view the final image from a pre-exposure point of view, but rather, should utilise proper post processing techniques, when possible, to bring out the final image in the exact way he intends to portray, in the mood he intends for his audience to feel.
