No, you are not a cheater if you photographing on digital!
You can photographing with digital in a same way as you do it with film camera. The question is, you do it that way?
If not, you still not a cheater, if you not call your picture as a photo.
If you create your picture in a computer from a photograph, and the end result is not a same what you actually captured, and you still call it photo, taht is a cheating. Cheating, because if you call it photograph, that makes the people believe that, you captured the picture as they can see it. But this is not a true.
If you create a picture in a computer, from a photogrpah and the end result is not what you captured with a camera, and you call it digital art, or photo based digital grafic, or anything you like but photograph, you are an artist and not a cheater.
When you are shoping at WalMart you know what you pay for. No one want to make you believe, the items on the shelfs are the highest quality.
But if you go to shoping to GUCCI you expect the best!
But what about if you find out actually the items you got at GUCCI was made in china by underage workers in a factory?
What about if you buy a photograph, where you expect that, it is a real photograph captured by a talented photographer, but actually it was made by some guy who don't know to much about photography, but with a hundred try and error he was able to made a picture in a computer.
What about if you go in a quality five star restaurant, where you expect that, the food is gonna cooked by master chef in the kitchen, but actually just a waitress called some food service to deliver a frozen food and they are warm up it in a microwave for you?
It's all about what you expect, and what you really got! And if it is a photograph, you expect that, it is a photograph, which was captured by an artist as you actually see it, and wasn't made in a computer using an easy to use computer softweare.
If it is a painting, you expect that, it was painted by an artist with free hand using brush and other painting tools not inkjet printer!
If it is a wood carving, you expect that, it was created by an artist, with free hands and hand tools, not by Computer controlled router machine, where the "artist" has nothing to do just place a piece of wood in the machine and push the start button.
The real crafted things are always has higher value, but if that things are not really crafted, just manufactured by an easy way, but still they make you believe that, the item is a craft, just for raise the value, that is cheating.
