Digital means more art and less science

150 years ago, new discoveries in optics and chemistry led to a new technology: photography. Its ability to record accurately was seen by many as a purely scientific and mechanical process.

Yet, even the early photographers developed techniques that resulted in more than mechanical production, for example by producing images that were slghtly blurred. Later, photographers endeavoured to produce images that showed their perception of a scene.

The digital world has radically changed photography. While various digital hoaxes have disproved the saying that 'the camera never lies', the ability to remaster an image has allowed the photographer to use the techniques available to the artist. In the same way that the painter would alter their image to communicate a message, modern technology allows the photographer to do the same.

Although digital technology may mean that a photograph can not be relied upon as an exact scientific record, it also allows the photographer to use compositional creativity that was not available before. Digital technology may have reduced the exact mechanical science in photography; at the same time it has increased the art.