Fotography
Photography
The word "photography" is derived from the Greek language: photo means light and graph(on) means written. Photography is defined by the Webster and other dictionaries as the art or process of producing images on a sensitized surface by the action of radiant energy and especially light. This is hot a rule or an immutable eternal law, but simply the technical and scientific definition of the term "photography," used in English and many other languages. Photography has changed, but its definition is still valid. A digital camera obtains images by the action of light on a light sensitive surface. The images are photographs, although the action of light is physical and hot chemical.
Are images created by a computer photographs? It is agreed that slides or prints corrected or modified by a computer are photographs. On the contrary, images made by drawing or painting without using a camera or light are hot photographs. The digital compositions containing both photographic and non-photographic material form a debatable gray area. The main issue here is not the nomenclature, but the eligibility for photographic exhibitions. Contests must have rules to be meaningful and exhibitions need standards. However, the border between photography and digitally created graphic art is diffused. The PSA Consolidated Exhibition Standards [PSA Journal, 68 (1) 16, 2002] require that the photographic content of the image must predominate. This criterion is open to interpretation. Hence, the decision which images are acceptable as photographs is left to the judges of the exhibition.
Professionals choose the imaging technique most likely to please the client. Amateurs are free to make images by any process they enjoy. PSA has room for every imaging technique and electronic imaging is a growing field.
Erik Kissa, EPsA--Wilmington, DE
Are images created by a computer photographs? It is agreed that slides or prints corrected or modified by a computer are photographs. On the contrary, images made by drawing or painting without using a camera or light are hot photographs. The digital compositions containing both photographic and non-photographic material form a debatable gray area. The main issue here is not the nomenclature, but the eligibility for photographic exhibitions. Contests must have rules to be meaningful and exhibitions need standards. However, the border between photography and digitally created graphic art is diffused. The PSA Consolidated Exhibition Standards [PSA Journal, 68 (1) 16, 2002] require that the photographic content of the image must predominate. This criterion is open to interpretation. Hence, the decision which images are acceptable as photographs is left to the judges of the exhibition.
Professionals choose the imaging technique most likely to please the client. Amateurs are free to make images by any process they enjoy. PSA has room for every imaging technique and electronic imaging is a growing field.
Erik Kissa, EPsA--Wilmington, DE
