Photos and postcards of people and by-gone eras add a special element to many mixed media artworks; they can be used to tell the story, bring a focal point to our pieces or express the emotion that draws the observer into our artwork. Having these images available to us in digital format opens up all sorts of possibilities.

Why use digital images?
Digital images offer convenient storage when compared with many pages of printed images, photos and postcards. They can now be stored in a lot less space. By having these pictures on file, we can resize and print them as needed. This will ensure they are always the right size for the project you are working on.

When purchasing digital images over the Internet, often you can download them straight away so you don’t have to wait for the postman to arrive; the pictures are there, ready to be printed out and used almost instantly. Digital images can also be cheaper than purchasing preprinted images. Having your own coloured printer is the easiest way to print these images but selecting the ones you want and going down to your local coloured printing store can still be a convenient and cost effective way to create hard copies of these pictures.

When looking to use treasured family photos and historically significant documents, creating digital copies is a way of using these pieces in your artwork without altering the originals. Since the use of original documents has become popular with mixed media artist, there has been a lot of discussion surrounding the for’s and against’s for using these original photos and documents in your artwork; we’ll leave that conversation for another time.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4632286