How are photographs made to be more 'there'? Just as sausages get cooked in something, most photographs nowadays get cooked in photoshop (PS). Don't think it's all the re-touching and manipulation that's the only ingredient, but along with a few other factors, modernity being one, its an essential tool to give photographs 'presence'.
You may hear photographers boast about what they didn't do to their pictures. If using PS they exclaim about minimal skin retouching, tiny curves adjustments and slight crops. And yes there was a time when this was cool, pure, and all that stuff. But as time goes on it looks strangely old and dated.
One must understand the difference between fame and modernity. Not understanding this is most certainly a block to progress and as a result, many photographers pursue and produce fashion pictures that mirror the greats, but the greats of the '80s, '90s or even earlier. That's the problem, mostly their photography is old fashioned, great but dated. GBD