Here's a wee journal to discuss a few things concerning editing.

I do 90% of my post-processing in a freeware program by Google called Picasa 3.
It has its limitations yes but I can do most of my adjustments on it.

However recently I have been using another Freeware program known as GIMP 2. I use this mostly to do a wee touch of burning and dodging if I have exposure problems. But still I'm a little reluctant to play with these advanced features too much. Sometimes there is the temptation to plaster a picture with great shadows and highlights and to make it look like such an amazing scene. Now I have nothing against the enhancement of pictures. BUT. For me when I take a picture, there is normally an incentive in the physical environment for me to do so. Maybe it's the back lighting, shadows or whatever. To add certain lighting enhancements in the editor can be kinda dishonest to yourself and the viewer. Adding something that wasn't there in the scene is a no-go for me. That's why I have certain reservations when it comes to HDR photography. The sign of a good a good HDR photograph is one that doesn't look like it is an HDR photograph, funnily enough. I see a lot of people go over the top with HDR effects, trying to make a mundane picture look eye catching with the 'dynamic' lighting, but 9/10 times it just looks messy.

If we are talking about ' Poetic Realism' then by all means, alter your picture until you get the mood/emotion you were going for.

What are your views on dodging and burning, HDR et al?

I want to ask you something about my pictures. Do you feel they would benefit with a touch of sharpening? Do you think they need more clarity in details?

What about my skies? Do you feel that I need to do more to eradicate overeposed skies?

I have a great camera at my disposal now so I expect the picture quality to be better than my old stuff, but I'm still not getting the desired picture quality I expect. Now this could be down to the fact I have a sluggish 18-200mm lens. Or maybe I haven’t mastered the manual controls yet. A tripod would help too and some polarising filters perhaps.

Does too much editing also reduce picture quality?
Sometimes when I'm done editing a picture, the air looks quite heavy and glossy. This attracts some people to my pictures but I feel that it can look a bit too artificial as well as getting rid of edge details, making the picture look blurry.

I might start sharpening to see how it turns out.
If any of you are interested, I could post a few Before/After pictures in my scraps.

Finally I’d like to ask for a few volunteers. . I’m not sure how many of the real big ' professional ' photographers are currently watching me. I guess I’m not that good to have attracted the attention of the Higher-Ups but if any of you think you’re a real wizard with Photoshop or Lightroom e.g and know how a well edited photo should look, I’m asking for your help.
I’m asking for you to take some of my original unedited files, work you're magic and see what you can come up with
This is really to ask a few questions of myself as a photographer and of editing in general. The results of your edits will tell me either that I need to improve as a photographer to get professional looking pictures or that I need to improve/invest in post-processing more.
If no one is willing/able, then I ask is there anyone you know who would be willing to help me or is there a forum I could post this in to get a better response?