Snowy Cottage - Providence

[natefromri]

Here's a snowy photo I captured of a place in Providence, RI called the Betsy Williams Cottage in Roger Williams Park. This photo was taken with the Nikon D70. I PSed out a park trash can which was on the extreme left hand side of the photo, which I normally don't agree with, but for this photo, thought it was necessary to capture the essense of what I was trying for, that being a cottage in the winter-time without distraction.

What does everybody else think of "digitally enhancing" photographs to make them more visually appealing? Is this unethical? Would it have been better to simply move the trash can manually prior to snapping the photo? To me, the issue of altering a photo to make it what the artist is seeking presents ethical challenges. As an artist, how much editing is too much? Or does it not matter, since we are creating art instead of a factual capture of what we're seeing?

Thanks...Nate