Originally Posted by
94TurboGSR
it's possible to make a picture look the way that one does without any post production... it's just not likely.
Yeah, that's why I said it's not likely. There are various reasons why photoshop should be used on every single shot IMO. For example, sharpening: See
Sharpening 101
...most digital cameras employ what is known as an anti-aliasing filter--essentially a diffusion filter over the sensor. (The exception is the Kodak Pro 14n). Why? Because the Bayer pattern sampling used in digital cameras has a tendency to produce colored artifacts and moire patterns on small detail. By blurring the light slightly so that multiple photosites get some of the information from a particular detail, this lessens the chance that these hard-to-remove artifacts appear. Unfortunately, it also has a further tendency to make edges less distinct.
The method by which most digital photographs are "corrected" is to apply a sharpening "filter" using an image-editing program, such as Photoshop. What these filters do is to detect transitions (edges) and make them more pronounced.
There is no level of sharpening that fits every picture. Leaving camera sharpening at 0 and sharpening manually in photoshop is the way to go IMO. Take it for what you will.
If you do have photoshop, you should check out the sharpening tutorial/example on that page. It really enlightens the user on what sharpening is and how it does what it does. Interesting stuff.