Is digital hurting photography as an art form?
Digital cameras have made taking pictures easier and less expensive. Combine that with the rise of the Internet as an image-sharing medium and you have the impression that there are more poor quality pictures than ever before. Remember, however, that the Kodak Instamatic and 110 and Polaroid cameras also brought photography to the masses. The difference is that most of those pictures pictures ended up in a shoe box under somebody’s bed. So, there appear to be many more snap shooters. However, I believe that there is also an increase in serious photographers. Their quality stuff is just hard to find in the deluge of poor quality images. It is also a misquided assumption that one can fix a poor quality image in Photoshop. Experienced photographers use it to bring the image into a form that they envisioned for it when they released the shutter. They also know that if you have to spend more than five minutes “fixing” an image, it is beyond repair.
