Do you TAKE better photos or do you MAKE better photos?

Richard- I had to look twice at your post because I wasn't sure if the photos were "yours" or "yours via Photoshop" .  And, if that's what you can do without Photoshop, I'd say spend your time doing what you're doing because if you mastered Photoshop you would put us all to shame!  

I am a Point 'n Shot photographer.  What I loved about the now-departed Picnik was the wrinkle remover! But some day I am going to learn Photoshop.  It's all art, whether your art comes out through your camera and the settings or through a combination of camera and editing software.  The common denominator is your vision. 

Fab photos, Richard! There are a lot of things to learn with all these programs and if you can take a beautiful original photo that's great! :D I'm still working on learning my camera...

Richard, I do use I-Photo to do a bit of crop/straighten to edit the photos that I take.  Photoshop is beyond my capabilities.  Your stuff is gorgous by the way.

Wow ... gorgeous photos, Richard!  I'm pretty much a 'point and shoot' kind of gal myself.  I really don't have much experience with the photo editors, so I always have my fingers crossed that my shots will come out right the first time :)

Richard, I'm with you. I prefer well composed photos the old fashioned way. We're probably in the minority.

Richard, Photoshop was developed as a graphic arts program. Over the years Adobe has added many features for photographers but it's still a very slow akward program for photography and has a very steep learning curve. Adobe has a program just for photographers called Lightroom. It's much cheaper, many times faster and very easy to use.

Richard:

Your photos are breath taking.  It is remarkable that these photos were not edited.  I can see I have a lot to learn.

Richard, your pictures are exquisite! What type of camera to you use?

GORGEOUS photos, Richard.  Wow! If you did those with no editing software...my guess is.. "you don't need no darn editing software!"

Richard, I am with you. I thing a photo is a moment in time and don't do anything to enhance or detract from that moment.

I have it and prefer to use the free ones on the web. I can be finished with what I want done before photoshop finishes opening up... AND it doesn't take up space on my computer. Since you only make minor changes, you do not need Photoshop. If you want to put your face on Superman's  body... THEN open up Photoshop! 

Richard, all the software in the world cannot replace an eye for good composition. With the new point and shoot cameras and phone cameras, everyone is an expert photographer. It still takes a good eye to get a great photo. You've got the eye! Your photos are amazing!!

If you read about "old school" photography, though, you'll understand that photographs have never really been conceived through the lens. They are conceived with the human brain.

Just look at everything that is coming out about Ansel Adams, arguably the greatest photographer the world has ever known. He took dozens of pictures of the same thing and then modified them in his darkroom using different chemicals, papers, dodging, burning, etc.

Personally, I think that a "photograph as an instant of time captured in the moment" is a picture. I make a differentiation between snapshot pictures and photographs.

As well, you say that you "still shoot in manual mode with quality lenses and filters." What do you think "quality lenses and filters" are? Photoshop and the other digital editing programs simply make those lenses and filters accessible to the masses, at much lower cost than actually buying all those lenses and filters.

Our household here has Photoshop CS6 Beta, Photoshop CS5, PaintShop Pro X4, and Photo-Paint X5, as well as all the free ones (Picassa, PicMonkey, etc.). Even Word 2010 has very good picture editing capabilities. We also have a Canon Rebel, Rebel XSi, and 550D that we use, as well as lenses from 10mm wide angle to 55-300 zoom to 500mm prime. They all do different things that make a snapshot, a picture, into a photograph.

Stop by a photography gallery and talk to the professional photographers. You'll be surprised at just how much post-processing goes into those professional photographs.

Really loved the last picture Richard.  Very cool stuff!                                                                                                            

Nice shots Richard.

and now for the dissenting opinion... 

I grew up around cameras, rollei's, agfa, pinhole... you name it, and there are image pros in my family.

We create or make images by deciding what to shoot, and in your case, you think hard about what you are shooting and compose and create the right mood for your image. 

Photoshop is your darkroom, look at the menus, it's all from the darkroom - treat it that way and photoshop can be a giant asset for you. On the other hand, if cutting things out of pictures is all you need, heck, maybe get into real estate and hire a photographer... 

One of the most frequent uses of PSD for pros is to adjust color balance to be true... shoot a true white reference or a gray scale and use that to adjust your colors, helps you print images that actually has the colors you intended. 

Hi Richard... these are really stunning photos. I don't think you need photoshop. Whatever for? You have a great talent!

Photoshop will never fix a poorly taken photo.  I have Photoshop CS5.5 and rarely use it.  It's complex, huge, and slow but it does a few slick tricks.  However, no software will fix a bad angle, poor lighting, and other issues.  Better to just take a good pic the first time.  When I have to tweak a picture, I just use Corel Paintshop Photo.

Great Photos ......  I take pictures and usually get 1 fantastic picture out of 20  then I salvage 2 out of 20  and the rest a re just there ..... !!!