Digital photography has now replaced film in nearly all its applications and has radically expanded the limits of conventional image-making. This book presents some of the best examples of contemporary art - Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Pedro Meyer, Nancy Burson and Loretta Lux. Jonathan Lipkin, who has practiced and observed the phenomenon of digital photography, chronicles its rise from an obscure scientific application, through its adaptation by pioneer computer artists, to its acceptance by the mainstream of the art world. Present throughout is the understanding that its greatest impact is on the everyday need for everyone to make images. The images range goes from the banal to the otherworldly, from MRI scans to fine art to snapshots. Lipkin explores dominant themes of the field, including the human body, identity, and the landscape.