Using Digital ... For Good, Bad And Ugly
It can be most flexible and versatile. We can change backgrounds, components, blend images, swap open eyes for closed eyes. In general, we have total creative power over the image from start to end. This is good.
Unlike film, with digital cameras you can immediately see the image. This means that anyone who knows nothing about photography, simply from trial and error, can find settings which get acceptable results. He wouldn't know exactly what to look for and what results are most desired, but just like Joe Public he would be able to make the image lighter or darker, focus or not focus, center, or change composition, and simply get by while fooling the client into thinking he really knows what he's doing. Instead of getting a photographer, you simply have someone operating a piece of equipment. This is bad.
Digital technology allows for lots of corny, special effects which will mask and hide the real image. Digital effects are very popular now at mediocre studios who suggest albums filled with graphics of flowers, hearts, borders, picture frames, backgrounds, etc... It's a way of making bad photography seem more exciting, but unfortunately it won't make bad photography any better and it makes better photography look tacky. This is ugly.