Anytime I book a trip to a new place I do a google image search for photo hotspots or must see landmarks. I love visiting places like 500px.com that are full of incredible images. This is a great source for inspiration that helps me put together a list of must see locations. However, in doing this, I have found that the online images rarely match what you find in reality. I have found that in many cases it takes a good deal of photoshop afterwards to match the vision that has developed in my head of what the photograph "should" look like as a result of this research. Here are some examples from a few recent trips. I've included the pre-photoshoped images to compare the changes that were made.
First up is the iconic Las Vegas sign. As you can see in the before photo there are a number of power lines that run directly behind the sign. Additionally, if you look closely the sign is very dirty and looks to have been patch several times.
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Here is another angle. You can see a giant billboard and more wires in the background. Additionally, I had this image in my mind of a great blue sky with puffy white clouds. Unfortunately the actual sky was a slightly disappointing grayish blue.
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I also find people very often get in the way of the perfect shot. This photo was taken at about 10:30 pm in the middle of winter. Even with the late hour and super cold weather there was still a load of people that had to be cloned out of the final shot.
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Some times these changes can be very time consuming, but in my opinion the final piece of art is well worth the effort.