For at least a decade, photographers have grappled with how much manipulation can be allowed before their imagery nudges past the boundaries of photography. Dave Montgomery, a Bethesda artist, is the latest to explore this question. His exhibit at the Strathmore Mansion offers 16 pairs of images, one a traditional photograph, the other a digitally composed tableau or electronically altered image that shares a thematic link. In two high-angle images of brightly colored tables set up for fancy banquets, do we need one that shows a table digitally turned into a flower arrangement to communicate the notion that this setting suggests a garden? Meanwhile, the composition of a runner blithely heading off into a gray, gusty sea is a nice bit of dream imagery, but the paired image of a man casting a long shadow on sun-dappled asphalt seems more vital simply for having been caught, serendipitously, in reality. Chalk one up for old media.

THE EXHIBITION IS ON VIEW FROM 10 A.M.–4 P.M., MONDAY, TUESDAY, THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, 10 A.M.–9 P.M. WEDNESDAY, AND 10 A.M.–3 P.M. SATURDAY TO AUG. 23 AT THE MANSION AT STRATHMORE, 10701 ROCKVILLE PIKE, NORTH BETHESDA, MD. FREE. (301) 581-5109.