I am a very novice photographer, however, am interested in keeping as "real" a record of my trips, etc. as possible. I recently read the Reuters photo editing guidelines (http://handbook.reuters.com/index.php/A_Brief_Guide_to_Standards,_Photoshop_and_Captions#Photoshop) - not because I plan to shoot news photography - because that seems like a good guide as to what constitutes minor correction versus over-manipulation.
I use Photoscape to correct images and was wondering what features in there would generally be considered "acceptable" to use and which are not? Specifically in regard to Backlight correction, levels, contrast, deepening, darkening, etc.
Here is a rather bad photo I took that I edited in five different ways - which edits should I have avoided? Thanks in advance for any input.
ORIGINAL
Used "Auto Level" and "Auto Contrast"
Used "Auto Level", "Auto Contrast" and "Medium" Deepening
Used "Auto Level", "Auto Contrast", "Medium" Deepening and 50% Backlight
Used "Auto Level", "Auto Contrast", "Medium" Deepening and 75% Backlight
