[JDArt]

Interesting points, Lunatique-- and it seems to me these could also be made about photography in general, or almost any art that involves some degree of "button pushing" in order to produce a product.

Artistic talent is slippery, though, isn't it: some seem to have it naturally, some can learn it, some can go to school to try to learn it but never quite do, etc. Pick your permutation. Here you're bound to get the "gee whiz, look what I did in photoshop" products, but hopefully something can be learned from the good efforts, and some useful discussions can occur more along the lines of intent and design, as you're suggesting.