To let edit or not to let edit.

[Kunta]

Okay so I joined another photo forum. (Hangs head in shame) And I have run into something I haven't on this forum as of yet I should say. A dilemma of whether or not to set my photos as OK to edit or NOT OK to edit. While I understand the concept of letting others show you what they would do or help you edit the photo. I also understand the idea of wanting to do it yourself. Letting people tell you how or what can be done and using their advice and guidance to figure it out.
This is a quote from a member (As I try to avoid the kind of people who are arrogant enough to choose not to touch their pics it was an honest oversight on my part that I touched yours. It wont happen again. ) Which leads me to my question. Why do or don't you? Is it really necessary to have someone edit it to show you how to do the edit? Why aren't you willing to let someone edit your photo to help you?
I'm just wondering. I have mine set to not edit cause that's how I have always had it set. I like to try the edit as opposed to someone else doing it to show me how. I'm not opposed to someone helping me if I have tried and failed. So that's just my question. Hoping it doesn't lead to a heated hateful debate just want to know the general feeling of those in this forum.

Thanks everyone,

Kenny

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[PhotoGunner]

Well, I debated about that when i signed up and here is what I concluded. From what I can tell most people won't edit your photo unless you ask them to. When you post a photo you can ask people what they would do and just specify that you don't want it done for you. There will always be those who can't help themselves and feel the need to try and demonstrate thier skill, but for the most part if you just let people know your intentions when you post a picture they will respect that.

[TCampbell]

If you learning, then I'd suggest setting photo editing to "OK" and let other people edit your images. If you see an edit you like, ask them how they did it.

Sometimes I see images posted that are compositionally fine, but falls flat. Maybe it's all in mid-tones and needs some curves or levels adjustment. Maybe it's got highlights & shadows problems. Etc. I've seen dull images which look positively full of life after some fairly trivial changes.

As the shooter, you know what the "before" image looked like. Seeing what someone else does to an image might help you recognize a potential in the editing that you had not yet known to exploit -- as long as they're willing to describe what they did to it, I think of it as a great way to learn.

Think of it this way: I want to learn to paint like Rembrandt... I have two choices: I can (a) keep experimenting and hope to stumble onto the secrets or (b) let someone who knows the secrets show me how it's done. For some things... letting some show you (from time to time) can really speed the learning process along. There's no shame in that.

For me, the fun is in the shooting. I'd rather not have to spend any time sitting at the computer processing images. While I'd like to know "how" to edit, I don't think of that as the artistic part (although i know others can be highly artistic with their edits.)