The effect of digital editing has certainly made a significant change on the nature of photographic output. Digital editing creates the photographs we see today. The sophistication of the software is amazing. I recently completed a project taking fifteen year old RAW files and processing them with current software. A side by side comparison of prints clearly demonstrates the advances made in digital editing software. (Well, maybe my digital editing skills might have improved in the ensuing years, but we’ll set that aside for the moment.)
Here is where I am puzzled and saddened and a whole host of other conflicting emotions. The negative and the print used to be closely related. If the negative was off, the success of the print was in doubt. Today, it is difficult (if not impossible) to fail at making a great digital file. The options available to make the digital file usable are so great, no matter what the state of the capture there is no doubt an acceptable image can be created. We can do this because digital editing software has become incredibly sophisticated.
Now, it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible to create photographic images (files? captures?) that are technically flawed. To complete the analogy, the score is perfect, the performance is perfect and now the big problem we face is how to make art people want to see.
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