Is digital photography from Photoshop art? This variation of the hoary question "Is photography art?" is a debate gaining momentum.

以前人们曾经考虑：摄影是艺术吗？现在从这个问题延伸出另外一个问题：Photoshop后的数码摄影是一门艺术吗？这是一个需要收集资料证明的问题。

Conventional photography is accepted as a legitimate art medium, attested to by the prices for works by masters such as Man Ray, Weston, Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus and hundreds more.

传统摄影被认为是一种艺术创作方法，某些大师级摄影作品的价格就能反映出这一点，比如说， Man Ray、 Weston、Ansel Adams、Diane Arbus以及其它数百位摄影大师的作品都是价格昂贵的艺术品。

Acceptance of a photographer's work as art begins with the individual's vision and ability to transform it to an image: in other words, creativity. Another step is through publication, although not all published photographers are artists. Then there is exhibition and purchase by collectors.

摄影作品反映出摄影师个人想象力以及把想象力转化为作品的能力，换句话说，作品中包含了创造力，这是其成为艺术品的一个原因。另外一个原因是作品的出版，虽然不是出版作品的摄影者都是艺术家，但作品会向世人展示，并且会有收藏者进行购买。

The art world has been slow to embrace digital photography for several reasons. First is the role of the computer. For many years, "computer art" has been hallmarked by outer space themes with floating 3D spheres, star fields and ephemeral glows. Fine for a screen saver but not exactly the theme the collector wants for his walls.

数码摄影迟迟不被艺术世界认可，有以下几个原因：首先是电脑功能的原因。人们认为电脑艺术有外太空的特点，可以设计浮动的3D球体、星空以及明亮的光辉。这些作品只可以作为屏保，而不能让收藏者挂在墙壁上观赏。

Second is presentation. For some reason, art and huge size are considered to go hand-in-hand and the digital photographer has been limited to the output of inkjet printers or very expensive giclee devices.

其次是呈现方式的原因。由于某些原因，人们认为艺术品应该是手工制作的，但是数码摄影师必须要利用喷墨打印机或者昂贵的gcilee打印机，才能设计出作品。

Third is the very real concern of permanency. No one actually knows how long an inkjet or giclee print will last on a wall. Manufacturers make estimated claims for archival quality of their papers and inks based upon accelerated tests. Of course permanency has been a problem for artists since the first prehistory artist scratched into a chalk wall in a French cave.

第三个原因是人们希望某种艺术形式永远存在的心理。没有人知道喷墨打印与giclee作品会流行多久。虽然现在生产商要求提高纸和墨的质量，以增加打印的速度，但结果还是未知数。当然，对艺术家来说，保存永久的艺术形式是一个问题，比如说，史前艺术家以前在山洞的石灰墙上创造作品，但现在不会有人这么做了。

Some art critics exhibit confusion between the quality of images created with pixels and those made up of grains of silver salts. Digital is simply another photographic medium and I'm happy that more photographers using that medium are being accepted as artists without resorting to glowing spheres and specular highlights.

一些艺术批评家认为，由像素组成的照片质量与以前的荧光粉照片质量差不多。其实，数码摄影就是另外一种摄影方法，并且我很高兴地看到越来越多数码摄影者被称为艺术家，他们并没有设计发光星球以及明亮光线。

In this column, I'll examine the work of two such artists from the UK. While neither is purely a digital photographer, each exhibits incredible skill in Photoshop.

下面，我会介绍两位英国艺术家的数码摄影作品，他们都不是纯正的数码摄影家，但都表现出了高超的摄影技术。

"Money Talks" Catherine McIntyre © 2000

Catherine McIntyre whose haunting photo collages include digital photos, scanned photos and found objects, nude figures (often her own), and a great application of imagination with Photoshop skills and understanding. A Scottish graphic designer with a traditional art background, Catherine's interpretations of themes from dreams to time are spectacular in their shocking elements and their use of nearly monochromatic color. You can see examples of her widely published creations at her home page: members.madasafish.com or at intangible.org.

Catherine McIntyre喜欢把数码相片、扫描相片、目标物体、裸体艺术以及自己巨大的想象力与理解力融入到作品中。一位有传统艺术背景的苏格兰美术设计师曾经说：Catherine的作品在创作的过程中，通过使用一些不同寻常的设计元素以及单一的色彩，淋漓尽致地把主题表现出来。你可以在她个人网站members.madasafish.com或intangible.org的首页中看到她广为人知的作品

On her website, Catherine describes the evolution of her work from the traditional live studio through her discovery of Photoshop: "The layering techniques available in Photoshop were a revelation. Initial attempts at collage had always been restricted by the given scale and colour of found objects and photographs, and by the physical problems of attachment; translucency, too, was not a variable. In Photoshop, there are no such restrictions."

Catherine在她的网站中说，发现Photoshop以后，她的作品就不再局限于传统的模式：“Photoshop中的压条技术是一个新发现，最初尝试拼贴作品的时候，固有的比例、物体和照片的颜色以及附件的固有问题都会使作品创作受限。半透明度也在改变，但在Photoshop中就不会出现这些情况。

Although the major body of her work has been done with conventional cameras and scanners, Catherine now uses a Canon Powershot S40 digital camera as well.

尽管Catherine的作品主体是利用传统相机和扫描器完成的，但她现在还会使用Canon Powershot S40数码相机，作为创作工具。











"The Crab That Played," Sandy Garnder © 2000

Another digital artist is Sandy Gardner, a British artist who works in themes very similar to McIntyre's. Indeed, the two may serve as inspiration for each other. At the present time, Gardner does not use a digital camera.

另外一个数码艺术家是Sandy Gardner，一位著名的英国艺术家，她的作品主题与McIntyre的非常像。这两位艺术家确实可以彼此提供创作灵感，现在Gardner并不使用数码相机。

Gardner's photo collages are marked by a broader use of vivid color, elements from nature, and effective use of various distortion techniques. A visit to her home page at http://sandygardner.co.uk makes a very interesting comparison to the work of McIntyre.

Gardner作品的一个特点就是：大量使用鲜艳的颜色以及自然界中的各种元素，并且有效地运用多种扭曲技术。如果访问她的网站http://sandygardner.co.uk，可以对两位艺术家的作品做一下比较，很有意思。

Especially noteworthy are Sandy's illustrations for the book "The World of Fairies," which can be seen in Gallery 2 on her website.

Sandy最最引人注目的作品是为The World of Fairies这本书设计的插图，在她网站的Gallery2中就能看到。

In future columns, I would like to feature other digital photographers who work in the realm of fine arts. If you have a nomination, please email me at [email protected].

在将来的文章中，我还会陆续介绍其它的数码摄影艺术家，如果你有好的人选，可以发邮件告诉我，我的邮箱是[email protected]。

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