"No Tweaking, No Cropping"

While I understand the sentiment in this post, I can’t get 100% behind the anti-Photoshop part.

He can’t believe the addiction to computers. He told us to go out and shoot. Don’t go near the computers, just pick up a camera and go shoot. He told us he had wired the machines so they would give us an electric shock if we touched them. No PhotoShop….no tweaking, no cropping.

I think that’s a great idea to get someone super-focused on shooting more—something I should really do, BTW—but it’s not realistic. Most of us today shoot in RAW, which is just that: too raw for actual use. Sure, you can look at the captures to see how your technique is, and if that’s the whole exercise, then sure, ignore Photoshop and friends.

But every RAW file needs tweaking: color balance from the camera might be off and they all need some capture sharpening. I think de-emphasizing the computer is fine, but statements like this go too far. That said, I’m not there, and perhaps there’s context I’m not privy to. After all, they’re in a photo workshop, not a Photoshop workshop, so maybe that’s just the rule of the day to get them focused on the camera.