[Felinik]

You're very intent on whether they are innovating or not but I don't think innovation is what makes an artist an artist. Inventing HDR or Instagram doesn't make that person an artist, but if they do something really good with it, then they are an artist and an innovator.

This I completely agree with, if there's a certain level of innovation and creativity, blurry - grainy - underexposed - stained - whatnot, can definitely add something to an image, though then the threshold of originality need to really be noticeable!