Quote Originally Posted by Ronnoco
......
From a very practical point of view, workflow and time constraints enter into the picture. A pro really does not have the time to waste, extensively photoshopping one image to a level of perfection expected in the industry. It is easier to go back out and shoot what you want.

Ronnoco
I think this is actually a very good thread. But I just don't think that there is 'one single great approach to achieve the desired results'. I think that sometimes it's faster to photoshop something that try to reshoot what you wanted, specially if it was one in a lifetime shot.

What if you found out that in a session with a model the greatest pose was underexposed? Probably hiring the model again and try her/him to stand the same way with the same expression would be hard, expensive and time consuming.

Or if you need two different elements in a single picture? cut and paste it's easier than taking Johny to Paris and return.

I think that the better any kind of artist knows his/her tools, and the more tools they have, the easier they can come up with new ideas, and artistic constraints will be more of creativity than in how to do things.

Knowing how to use photoshop very well also helps photo taking, I think. As a photographer, if you now the tools available, you can focus more on how you need to frame your subjects to edit them later. For example, using a blue or green screen. If you don't understand how to use it, probably you could just select a blue screen, but forget to tell your model to avoid wearing blue clothes. Or how to use lighting on the models. Maybe the scene or background you want to use has the light coming from a window from the right, but you use a top placed flash when shooting your model. When you join them, the result photo will not look natural.

So, I think that using Photoshop (or any other software) to post-process images and get the result one is looking for is very valid, and also they can use it to expand on the media capabilities.