Digital photography differs from standard film photography in that the image is captured by a CCD rather than film and is immediately available for use online or in layout programs for print purposes. In addition the image is able to be viewed at the time of capture, so that the composition, focus and color saturation can reviewed by the photographer and client and adjustments can be made immediately to correct any problems.

As most printing is now accomplished through the use of digitized images, the intermediate steps and costs of film processing and drum scanning are avoided, allowing for lowered costs and greater efficiency. In addition, there are no penalties for shooting more images to insure that every aspect of the image is covered and a more experimental approach can be utilized - offering greater creativity without the attendant expense.

Digital photography also changes the studio experience. As the images captured can be manipulated and combined to create a final product the necessity of creating a perfect tableau is avoided, thereby allowing for quicker set up of the shot and concentrating on the composition rather than the finer details of the image, which can be finalized by the skills of the computer artist during the final compositing and retouching.