Is there a taboo against doing a lot of post in photography?
So, I'm a budding photographer loving every bit of it, and I know I should compose and set up my pictures so that what I shoot is as close to the final product that I want.
However, I'm very particular about what I want, and I kind of resign myself to taking a shot so that I can post process afterward. Is this a terribly bad practice?
FYI, if you're curious, I'm running a Nikon D5200, 35mm f/1.8 AF-S Prime Nikkor, and I'm just about to get a my Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX II, post in Lightroom 4.4
It is a bad practice to try to save images after you shoot you subjects
To my mind, the "skill" in producing a good photograph is the taking of it. I like to get my settings just right at the time of the shot.
However, yes, of course, I do post editing but only for minor adjustments like a touch of contrast or brightness.
I guess that you can "train" anyone to tinker with photographs on the computer even if they don't know a lot about photography.
Coming from a background of film when there was no photoshop I try my best to get things right on camera. Apart from that I never liked being in a laboratory! Too dark and smelly.
But I don't believe there's anything "wrong" with using all the tools at your disposal to create what you want to create. Getting it right or as near as possible to what you want on the camera will obviously save loads of time.
It depends.
If you are using post processing to try to rescue a bad image then you are onto a loser. Similarly, if you are trying to create something in post that you do not have the knowledge or skills to do in camera, then you should be acquiring that knowledge and learning those skills.
However if you are shooting in raw (and you should be if you are post processing) then you pretty much have to tweak contrast and saturation at the very least.
It's not cheating - those of us who shot (& still shoot) and develop our own film would've done similar processing in the darkroom to get the best negative/print.
It depends what you and your clients want from 'photography'.
If you are shooting fashion or make-up and similar there will always be pressure to make the 'perfect' image, and retouching has always been done in that field, long before Photoshop etc was invented.
For yourself, do you want 'perfect' pictures, or do you want to work hard with the camera to capture the world as it is?
It depends… In journalism and strict wildlife manipulation is a no. In portraiture the amount depends upon the client's tastes. In pictorial or fine art anything goes. Here's some examples: In this shot I was looking at this car in broad daylight. I thought it would be awesome at night, but the park was closed at night… So I created night. 
In this shot I knew exactly what I was after. The man was leaning on a pole after a Memorial Day parade but I wanted to pull him out of his surroundings. 
Neither of these shots were taken for a client (although the gentleman ended up with a huge wall portrait after seeing it.)
Basically, if the photo is for your own artistic purposes and you start with a vision, go with it. If you are just depending upon post process to save a bad image, start rethinking your shots.