Postprocessing magic

This morning, I was pondering about the ethics involved in post-processing of images.

I studied photography formally a month ago and I was wondering why my shots then didn't look anything like those from a book I've read months before that.

I wasn't convinced that post processing is an ethical...thing for an artist. I saw works where the sun was repositioned ([link]), etc. and i could feel something wrong inside...like an itch that i can't scratch.

I remember my instructor telling the class, "If it's for the contest, stick to the rules. If it's for your portfolio, do anything you want." And he's right, in a sense. There are artists who want to show reality, and there are artists as well who shows what they want to show.

The sad part is, the latter are the ones becoming popular.

Image on the left is from stock exchange sxc.hu, already a good one. The one on the right is processed by me. i somewhat added the "drama" that many are talking about.

-kyle