6 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

When you edit photos, then you distort reality, and toy with history.

In a sense, you play god.

Is this the reason you love editing photos, do you think?

If you think about it, digital photos are not reality. An in-camera JPEG is converted from RAW sensor data using a predefined profile. Most cameras provide multiple profiles. Which profile reflects reality? A RAW editor allows the end user to reflect the reality that they want to project. Does film reflect reality? People used different types of film based on how they wanted to present the world.

6 hours ago, TedG said:

If you think about it, digital photos are not reality. An in-camera JPEG is converted from RAW sensor data using a predefined profile. Most cameras provide multiple profiles. Which profile reflects reality? A RAW editor allows the end user to reflect the reality that they want to project. Does film reflect reality? People used different types of film based on how they wanted to present the world.

In fact, photography does not reflect reality if it relies on light to produce color images.

In reality, color does not exist.