I don't really snap pictures at all, let alone use filters. But I've come to a simple conclusion when it comes to filters: Most of them are no different than your average smartphone snapshot: It doesn't look like the real thing. Cameras will never see colors and shadows (and lens flares) quite the same way we do.

In a picture of friends or a setting sun, we see more than the pixels on a 2D surface; there are emotions tied to it. Filters allow amateurs to effortlessly edit their pictures to match whatever emotional attachment they had with a photograph. As long as the professionals, who can usually do *much* better than a filter, don't start "processing" their snapshots just for the heck of it, I'll save my rantstick for something more pressing.