What is digital imaging? Digital imaging is the creation of an electronic snapshot from a physical object. A digital image may be created directly from a physical scene by a camera or similar devices. Alternatively, it may be obtained from another image in an analog medium, such as photographs, microfilm or printed paper, by a scanner. 

The digital image is sampled and mapped as a grid of dots or picture elements (pixels). Each pixel is assigned a tonal value (black, white, shades of gray or color), which is represented in binary code (zeros and ones). The binary digits ("bits") for each pixel are stored in a sequence by a computer and often reduced to a mathematical representation (compressed). The bits are then interpreted and read by the computer to produce an analog version for display or printing.