EXPLORING THE USE OF MODERN DIGITAL TOOLS IN IMAGE AND PHOTOGRAPHIC PRODUCTION

This article reviews certain aspects of current digital tools in the field of image creation and photography, taking a closer look at hybrid photography using two image methods, which are a mixed use of both analog and digital methods. The study examines the transfer of photography from analogue work (e.g., heliography, photography through film) to computational practice (e.g., recent photography with the aid of AI). Digital technologies – smartphones, mirrorless cameras, AI-aided editing software, social media platforms – have democratized photography (to put it another way, they opened up creative experimentation) but also introduced authorship and aesthetic quality and technological mastery challenges, the paper indicates. It sees hybrid photography as the solution; one that balances the richness, depth, and originality of analog with the power and flexibility of digital tools. This research method is hybrid in nature; in order to evaluate it, a literature survey with some practical experimentation and qualitative studies of hybrid photographic images. Based on the evidence, hybrid photography is claimed to encourage visual thinking, enhance technical skills, and open opportunities for creativity among professional and educational practitioners, notably the graphic design profession. The paper claims that the integration of analog and digital methods in photography education ensures all the students develop as competitive professionals and the way to teach photography is to create in accordance with the means of new digital tools and digital photography means in an innovative and visually sophisticated way to provide to create creative and visually rich new art work, traditional and technological works which integrates an interface between aesthetics of traditional and technology.