Hi John,
For the most part I am a purist which means I like to create things originally original as much as possible.
So by studying my S1's effects by manipulating it on camera I create what I want right then and there. IT comes with practice. I am not a digital geru but through trial and error I have developed techniques to manipulate the image first and then if need be spend two seconds instead of two hours tweaking photographs. Digital brings a new way of looking at things and ironically now the purists are wanting to make digital look like film when digital has it's own flare and own feel to it in many ways of shooting with it, manipulating it, etc.
Film has it's purist qualities and digital can have it's pure qualities but it can also be easily manipulated.
My examples that I shown previously is no differant then shooting black and white film and choosing a number 1 filter or a number 5 polycontrast filter when printing. I was actually surprised to get a constructive feedback that my work in general not examples previously shown, looked to photoshopped. It struck me funny because I have literally spent bare minumum in PS these days by understanding the look I want originally and within reason have not played with the airbrushing techniques you find with the blur tool and rubber stamp.
I see what you are saying about shooting it right to get as much information on digital but the same can be true in film as there are chemistry and lab techniques in printing to get artistic effects after the initial purist exposures, etc. But who wants to spend extra trial and error time screwing with something that is right when you can initially create the way you want it to begin with by going ahead and cross processing, pushing and pulling film, over exposing, underexposing, etc. Shooting digital to me with the ease of camera manipulations I find on the S1 I can achieve certain looks originally with either minor corrections or levels.
It is time we let the image speak for itself. Ultimately winning or losing with it is defined in the final image no matter how it got there. To claim you are a great photographer by a poor photograph manipulated in PS is definately a differant story.
J T