[font color=\'#000000\']Regarding Mike's question about either "showing something in a way that is beautiful but false, or ugly but honest", it all depends on what your purpose for the photo is, of course. If it's for art that pleases people - photo books, calenders, decorative photos, or for your own enjoyment, then you typically make the most beautiful photo you can, regardless of the 'truth' of the actual scene. If the photo is for documentary purposes or a more 'realistic' art feel, then you usually include the non-beautiful and non-idealistic elements, but still try to get a pleasing photo. (If you're getting photo's that you nor anybody else likes to look at, I'd recommend a different hobby.)
As far as his assertion that zooming and cropping is a 'trick' or that it's untruthful, is ridiculous. Everyone zooms or crops, unless they always shoot with a super-wide angle lens. How is showing the buildings and either side of the barn more truthful? Because it's not on the lone prairie? That's just one interpretation a viewer might have gotten. Maybe one viewer thought it was a barn in the horse pasture next to someones' house, because they have one similar by theirs. Maybe one thought it was a scene from a movie set. Everyone is entitled to their own interpretation. How is showing the adjoining buildings more truthful compared to shooting the picture with a super-wide from a mountain top so you can see truth of where the town is located, and then a satilite photo of where the whole region is located. Each photo lets the viewer see a different perspective, but none is any more or less truthful than another any more than taking a shot inside the barn doesn't tell you anything about what's outside of it.
BDH[/font]