Is lighting THAT important?

You've heard all the arguments on both camps. They all tell their tale. The Photoshop experts will tell you that everything can be done in Photoshop. The older generation photographers will tell you that lighting is everything. Some will go as far as saying that Photoshop sucks!!! Me? I've been straddling both camps for a long time now. I've at least 15 years of Photoshop experience, that makes me somewhat of a Photoshop expert. On the same tone, I have taught lighting classes on everything from models to products to food. So, I'm not pushover in that field either. No, I'm not going to tell you all the typical excuses on why people hate using photoshop, such as, "I hate sitting behind the computer all day". That's quite baloney and photoshop does have its place in the new world of digital photography, whether you like it or not. However, in commercial shoots, lighting is key! Why? Imagine. You are shooting commercial food photography. The Art Director is breathing down your neck. Each shot taken requires approval to either move on to the next item OR continual fiddling with the setup by the food stylist. To give you an idea, this back-and-forth process goes on for 50 shots and at times 100 shots, lasting several hours for the most important cover shot! At this point of time, one cannot afford to spend 10-15 mins after each shot fixing the image in photoshop before showing it to the Art Director before proceeding to the next shot. No way, José. Your lighting setup will prove you to be the best or just a regular Joe Photographer. Same goes to shooting a portrait session for an hour or two and you got 100 shots. You'll like to give the clients some proofs. Will you be retouching all 100 of the proofs before showing them to him/her? If your lighting is bad, do you think the client will buy more than the agreed images based on the proofs? Just something we can all chew on and think about. - MS