Photoshop et al is graphic art not photography
Why I agree that overprocessed images are usually bad, digital photography, like film photography, may still need some "development" to get the best image, especiaòòy if you shoot RAW to expolit the camera fully, even when the image is shoot correctly (which really doesn't require taking unlimited shots if you know what you're doing).
One area for example is sharpening. But camera without an antialiasing filter - used to counter moiré patterns-, any image will benefit from sharpening to recover from the softness created by the filter. It may not look needed when images are greatly downsampled, i.e. an high megapixel image on a 1920x1080 display will be, but as soon as you print it on a good photo printer on larger papers, from A4 onward,, it can easily show. You may also want to reduce noise for high ISO shots.
If you shoot RAW, the dynamic range may be higher than what the display medium could show, so you'll need to bring it into the allowed range while keeping required tonal gradation- it's not different from what Ansel Adams did with its Zone System.
If you shoot JPEG, the camera will process the image for you, applying sharpening, etc. on its own.
But photographers using reversal film (but Franco Fontana duplicated his landscape images to increase saturation...), some degree of post processing in the darkroom was often made, just selecting a paper grade to control contrast was actually a form of post-processing.
But of course for automatic consumer development, and even there enlargers could automatically process the image to make it look good enough on paper, correcting for brightness, casts, etc.
Post processing may be just a finishing touch, or a way to alter the original image wholly. But usually, without a little proper processing, images may not be better than consumer one-hour labs results..
PS: red eyes can be easily avoided as long as the flash is not close and aligned to the lens. Cameras with built in flashes just above the lens are the worst. Also, direct flash is usually a bad lightning choice.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
