I think we need to separate out what's right for us "artistically" and what's right for others. If you agree with the idea that "art" is really just a form of creative expression for people, then all that really matters in the end is does the "artist" feel like they've gotten something out of what they created. For some people that may be manipulating an image in software until it does something for them personally. I think that's great. To me that's the point of art.
My personal approach is different. It may not be so much that the approach above wouldn't give me any sense of fulfillment, but it just doesn't suit my inherent laziness. This may sound funny, in that you could think of the approach above as lazy, but I personally hate having to go through tons of images. I'd much rather have just a few to weed out. That's a big reason why I hate shooting events for my friends who ask for it, I can't stand weeding through all those files. My laziness has always been there. While I shot film for most of my life, by the time I decided I wanted to make photographs it was a digital camera I first used. Even when I started, I hated going through lots of files and would expose judiciously. Eventually I moved to 4x5 and made even less exposures. What brings me joy in the field is finding the perfect composition. By the time I've found it I usually know exactly what I want out of a photo from a tonality and composition perspective. I'll sometimes wind up tightening up composition further later, but tonality rarely changes from what I envisioned. Color may be a bit more fuzzy. Film and sensors don't capture the same colors I see necessarily, and it's hard to remember exactly what colors I saw sometimes. Since I moved back to digital I do take a few more exposures, but not many. Usually it's one additional exposure at a smaller aperture to make sure I get everything. If I'm shooting something with moving water I'll make exposures until I get the texture I want, although even then I'll often delete anything not close immediately on the camera.
However, I think the real nut we're talking about is comparing our work with others, and does one think they aren't getting the validation they think they deserve because viewers A) may not understand how the differences in their approach may "require more skill" or B) don't care. I'm not going to say I'm never guilty of this, but I try really hard not to, because in the end it's never going to make me a happier person.
