Again nice stuff on this page, guys. I want sunday walks like LLoyd's, Matt's lunch breaks and girls smiling at me exactly like on Jorgen pictures. No it's not too much to ask. Or is it?
Tim- first your photo is super nice, nothing to say here. Re the general issue of (over)processing, i guess i generally feel close to what Lloyd answered above. More and more i try to get what i want from the camera (and it gets easier gaining experience taking digital photographs). Note, "what i want" is not always "how it'll eventually look". Depends on the subject, and purpose. Products are an animal on their own, where not only processing but -sometimes heavy- retouching is often required. Many landscapes benefits from a treatment resulting in a style that might either give a more dramatic look or emphasizes on some aspects.
But in many occurrences it's much more efficient and effective to try and stick with minimum processing from RAW files. I personally find that it's very much the case for nature close-ups (not necessarily macros, but not landscapes either) where "cooking" quite easily make things look, indeed, un-natural.
Here's a two shots, same subjects, that i was planning to post before reading your comments.
For these i used NX2 +CS4, the posted images are merely 4 processing steps form the RAW file. Camera profile and crop in NX2. A basic curve adjustment and sharpen applied just by using Bicubic Sharper when reducing the Image Size in PS. That's it.
(oh well, yes there's the innocuous white frame action)
Two quite similar photos, shot in a row with just a small change in distance. Slight variations too in camera profile (0 vs. +1 in NX2) and curve adjustments. Nothing drastic, though. And crop, of course.
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I have to say that i find the minimal processing approach a bit easier with the D3X especially for exterior shots and also inside when working with strobes than it was with the D700 or D3. Where obviously the extended DR is a plus. Same thing when it comes to recovering lost HL or shadows (as Jorgen mentionned earlier with his beloved S5). Interior shots, especially high ISO is a different matter since the latest FW for D700/D3 makes them ideal for the purpose thanks to a -in my eyes- even superior AWB.