ABSTRACT
A MAJOR challenge faced by photographers making digital art echoes the challenge that photography itself faced at its inception—namely the perception that the machine, and not the artist, is creating the work. Another perception is that “Photoshop” (really, all image-editing software) brought about photo manipulation. This isn’t true—“combination printing” existed during the time of Fox Talbot, and was practiced by many photographers who sought to have photography recognized as an art form. Jerry Uels-mann’s amazing darkroom work still challenges artists working in digital and requires high levels of skill and artistry to even approximate in Photoshop. Yet, the perception is an acknowledgment of the power of Photoshop’s transformation tools, and image editing software has made sophisticated transformation more accessible. We’ll look at some of those tools here.
