Is using the computer considered cheating?

Does the computer take away the right to call photography a fine art? It's become a huge discussion between film photographers and digital photographers. Either which way, the digital revolution has taken photography in a direction that has allowed photographers to have much more freedom with their results.

Some of the advantages of digital photography:

A photographer no longer has to decide whether they will shoot in color or black and white because conversions happen after the photo is taken

There is no longer a need to conserve film. Digital photography makes it easy to take hundreds, even thousands of photos at no cost.

The guessing game has been eliminated from photography. Film photographers had to calculate so many factors almost making photography a form of math. Now-a-days a photographer can look at the situation, click a photo and then adjust accordingly. This saves lots of time and allows photographers to be more daring with their shots because they immediately know the results.

In my opinion, digital photography is wonderful because I can capture the photo and then realize my vision later on the computer. Most of my photos need at least a bit of contrast adjustment and color enhancement, but I also have the freedom to change it to black and white, add film grain, crop and more. I call the computer my digital darkroom.


Here are some examples of some original photos and their results after working on the computer.

Can you see how the colors look a bit drab until boosted on the computer? Also check out the difference black and white can make, changing the cropping, adding text etc.

Today I'd like you to play around in Photoshop Elements. I've provided a folder of original photographs that you can work with. Adjust the color, contrast, play with coloring, cropping, shading. See what unique effects you can do to improve the overall characteristic of the photo.