Photo Madness

Well, now I know how people take good photos – Photoshop!
Oh, sure, I’ve always been a fan of the infamous photo-tweaking platform, and I knew photographers used the tool to edit their pictures to a certain extent. However, after some online research and tinkering of my own, I just discovered how make a bad photo look good.
I mean BAD photos look GOOD. Take this before/after for example, it only took five minutes to edit the hell out of:
BEFORE:

AFTER:

I mean, seriously, holy hell! I feel lied to. I feel betrayed. I feel like every time I’ve seen a photo I admired it was a sham! I’ve spent so long trying to capture the exact image as it should be in my viewfinder when all I needed was Photoshop.
Yes, there is always some editing to be had – whether vibrancy, saturation or brightness/contrast. I just never assumed it would be to this extent!
Here are some more before/after pictures I edited tonight. I am in awe of how big a difference some retro tints and vignettes can make.