Surely it all hinges on the photographer's goals. Is the photographer trying to faithfully record an event or object or is the photographer trying to create a piece of art? If the former then minimum manipulation should be done, perhaps some cropping, exposure adjustment and sharpening. Only those things that contribute to allowing the viewer to more easily see what the photographer is trying to record. Mind you even in that sort of situation, photgraphers like Brady frequently moved things around to create a more dramatic picture. In the latter case then anything goes that adds to the creator's vision. Need a better sky? Put one in. Move a tree from left to right. Why not? Remove a wart from a face. Certainly! It's the same process that paint artists have been going through for centuries. It's part of what makes photography art.
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