Maggie Taylor had never been comfortable photographing people. She was so content shooting still lifes of “stuff” that she collected, that for 10 years she hadn’t even taken her 4×5 camera beyond her garden.

But then, in 1995, Russell Brown, the creative director of Adobe, tried to entice Ms. Taylor’s husband, Jerry Uelsmann, into making his surreal images using an upgraded computer loaded with Photoshop.

Mr. Uelsmann didn’t take to it.

He preferred his painstaking ritual of combining negatives in a darkroom. But Ms. Taylor became fascinated by the possibilities and started experimenting.

Sixteen years later, her images — and her husband’s – are in “Digital Darkroom” at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles. The exhibit, which was curated by Mr. Brown, explores the intersection of art and technology and features 15 other digital artists including Claudia Kunin and Pierre Beteille. It opens Dec. 17 and runs through May 28.

While both Mr. Uelsmann and Ms. Taylor make surrealistic images, they are distinguished not only by their technological paths, but also by their artistic sensibilities. Ms. Taylor’s images are humorous and reminiscent of Magritte or Dali, while Mr. Uelsmann conjures Jungian archetypes as he explores major philosophical themes .

When Ms. Taylor first started experimenting with Photoshop, she scanned some of the things she had collected for her still lifes and started manipulating them digitally.

“At first I wasn’t overly serious about it” she said. “ I thought this would just be a fun thing but not for my art work at all. As I used it more I started sending out digital prints for exhibits and then I saw other artists working with Photoshop, too.”

Ms. Taylor‘s work has grown technically as the software developed – when she started, the manual was around 100 pages and you could learn every single tool in an afternoon. Now it is so deep – there are so many possibilities – that it seems it could take a lifetime to master every tool and technique. As she explains it:

I use pretty minimal and simple features. I try not to get overwhelmed by the technical aspects of it. But as new features have allowed for higher quality images, that’s changed my work,. Things have become more intricate and layered and I’m braver about having many more layers in the images than I used to be. When I started out I didn’t think that I could do all of my work in Photoshop. I never really saw it as the ultimate answer to everything. But I now realize that there’s no other way I could do this kind of work. I couldn’t imagine myself using a camera and film anymore.

The only camera she uses now is a point-and-shoot that fits in her purse. She collects skies, clouds and sometimes gestures. Ms. Taylor, 50, recently wanted to make an image of a man carrying a fish on his back. She posed Mr. Uelsmann bending over and he became part of “Water seekers” (Slide 3).

Though Mr. Brown was unable to convert Mr. Uelsmann to digital imaging, he felt that the exhibit must include his work — which will hang alongside his wife’s at the show’s entrance. “I chose Maggie and Jerry because they have such a close relationship.” Mr. Brown said. “The opening wall is this fusion of both of their works together.”

Though the exhibit focuses on how technological advances have enabled artists to create new kinds of images — including 3-D ones —  the show’s foundation is Mr. Uelsmann. Mr. Brown has admired him since the 1970s.

“He was so influential over me.” said Mr. Brown, 56. “He influenced everyone who is in the show and inspired them but we couldn’t all do that he was doing in the darkroom. That takes enormous talent, skill and patience.”

He knows a bit about those traits: Mr. Brown has worked on Adobe Photoshop since its introduction in 1990, which is a particularly long time in digital years. How long? Well, he was one of three people listed in the credits when the program was released. Now, there are more than 200.

Over the course of those two decades, not only has Photoshop made it simpler to fine-tune and manipulate images, but also, it has altered how people perceive photographs.

“I don’t think there’s a single image on the Web or in print that hasn’t somehow been touched by Photoshop today, also every movie being produced, every magazine, every webpage being produced,” Mr. Brown said. “It’s an enormous influence on everyone’s life.”

How great an influence?

Mr. Brown answered, ”Photoshop increases your skill level so that the eye of the common man can create something like Jerry Uelsmann is doing.”

Mr. Uelsmann was featured yesterday on Lens.