Photoshop is not a dirty word.

Magical Transformation, originally uploaded by nickburlett.

I used to think "photoshop" was a dirty word. It was a crutch that people used when they should have just captured the image in the camera.

Now I'm pretty sure I was wrong. Photoshop is just another tool we can use to bring our vision to life. If we photographers can use polarizing filters, white balance control, creative use of dodge and burn in the darkroom, why not other more powerful adjustments?

I decided this shot could do well as day-for-night, and I thought her dress would be better if it matched the sky tones. The left side is what the camera originally captured, the right side is the photoshopped version. Yes, I probably could have captured this directly on the film, but Katie had a red dress, and I didn't think about the change until much later.

Now, Photoshop shouldn't replace basic camera skills. I still had to get the settings right to capture the original image: a strobe with 1/4 CTO (warming) gel into an umbrella high up and a bit to camera left, with the ambient about a stop or so under exposed.

However, if you get a decent image first, you can bring into Photoshop, and after some pixel pushing... voilà!