Are digital prints truly original prints since they are typically made from scans rather than directly from the film original?
In a word, yes. Digital prints are originals, not reproductions, based on the methods commonly used in the photographic world to distinguish originals from reproductions. While it is true that an image recorded on film, must first be digitized via the scanning process before it can be printed, a digital print is the same number of generations removed from the film original as a traditional gelatin silver print made from an original negative. The term “generation” is used in photography as a means of measuring how close a given image is to the original film image from which it originated. Each time a film image is processed through an optical system, this constitutes a generation. This is an important measure in traditional processes because each time a photograph is replicated in this manner, the original image is degraded. For a traditional photographic print to be considered an “original,” it must have been printed directly from the original negative and is therefore only one generat
