"Don Stauffer" wrote in message
...
I once read a fascinating book about the use of photography in
painting. Apparently many famous painters of mid to late 19, and 20th
century were also into photography, and used photography in their
painting work. One can claim that drawing perspective control lines on
canvas before painting is also cheating.

I guess cheating's all a matter of perspective. :^)

One could argue that a photographer cheats if he didn't build the
church/plant the tree in his photo. Extreme example, but it illustrates my
point, i.e. that the final product is the artistic work, and that has
nothing to do with the techniques employed to create it. I was taught that
it's pretty much a cardinal sin to even use a ruler to draw a straight line.
Except no one could give me a sensible reason why, so I ignore them all and
do whatever gives me the best results.

Si