[syntheweave]

The problem is not really one of the technology, though. At some level, all we are doing in making representational visuals is copying proportions, either spatially by indicating shape and form, or by samples of light. Where the source material doesn't have those proportions we need, the artist is filling in gaps. You can still iterate into The Night Watch from photos by using intermediate sketches; it's just a process.

A big part of why abstraction took off at nearly the same time as photography is that the differentiation of an artist from a camera had to come from somewhere. Artists that make art that looks like cameras are simply drawing on their strongest reference and not doing much additional decision making.

[inasmuch]

Agreed. I don't mean to vilify the technology itself, but rather the ways in which many artists employ it. What bothers me is when that gap-filling you describe is either not being done or is being done in such a way that retains the character and forms of the reference medium. I similarly dislike it when photographers try to make their photos look like paintings.

I do have misgivings about how reference photography affects the process of certain forms of art-making, but that's another issue entirely. In this case, I'm just talking about effects on the product, not the process.