Another form of digital mixing is vectoring. Vector images are images that, in layman’s terms, are real life pictures turned into cartoons. While it looks simple, it is hard to do. An artist must trace a part of the object depending on it normal color, pattern it after its color by creating a mask and then subsequently creating a cartoonish coloration, and repeat them over and over until all layers look like a distinct image. The process also involves tools that are not easily learned such as the pen tool. Vectoring images is a very tedious task and requires a lot of time and patience.

While digital mixing can create ads that are eye-catching, creating an image using different images is also a hard task. Not only you have to make it look artistic, you also have to make it look authentic as well. Remember the image of you holding the earth? In stark reality, you need at least three pictures: a picture of you holding something, a picture of the earth, and stars for background. When you combine these, you get a simple mix of images. Making it authentic and surreal is the main problem. In this case, you need to add a blue glow to the earth and make it reflect in your eyes, make the stars glitter but not excessively, and finally, create an impression of your ownership of the world using various filters. While it is simple to read it in words, making it possible is hard.

Digital mixing is a time consuming process. Also, it is not that user friendly. Some photographers who wish to generate awe-inspiring collages and or mixes of their photos hire outsourcing services to do such jobs. It saves time, effort, and most of all, money. Think about this: a normal vectored image takes roughly around 4-6 hours to do, a digital mix can be done at roughly also at the same time. Why do such tedious tasks when in those 6 hours you can do other things?