Edits on pics

I just wonder sometimes if editing a pic to make it look better realy matters that much? With film we never use to see the actual shot until it's been developed and printed. You can maybe see on the neg, and then you correct it before printing. I know that we don't wanna do editing and try to stay away from it but sometimes we have to admit that we have to do some editing. We used to use filters like Cokin but now we've got digital technology and it's easier. What is the diffs?

There is little difference. On the one hand I would make the best print I could in the darkroom by cropping, adjusting contast and brightness, burning and dodging, and sometimes combining images. Now I do the same in Photoshop.

One useful difference is, with the exception of polarisers, I now apply filters after the shot is taken.

The main advantage that I can see is that you can try all sorts of effects. If you don't like them, just click "undo" and start again. In the darkroom you'd have to fully develop each image to find out whether it worked or not.

Back in the days of film we used to slightly underexpose colour slide film to increase colour saturation. Fuji perfected Velvia and Kodak Extra Colour to also increase colours on slides. We also used polarising filters to add to this effect.
In the darkroom we did all the techniques that John has mentioned, plus also adjusting the colour with filtration. Certain processes such as Cibachrome were well known for their bold high contrast colours. Photographic dyes were used to spot-out spots and highlights, and to also change the colour of some areas. White paint was used, to add highlights/ catchlights to eyes and other elements. On black and white prints, clouds were formed on bland sky's, by using soft pencil lead applied with a finger. Ferrycyanide was used to bleach highlights into subjects or reduce blocked up blacks.

Now we do the alterations in camera, and in a photo editing program on the computer.

There is nothing new in adjusting or altering photographs.

So it's all the same then. Except now it's cheaper and faster. Thanx guys.