Ruraldi Loc: Milmay, NJ

I'm doing a presentation for junior high children on Composition, and want to start with the question, " what the difference between a picture vs a photograph?" My answer is a picture is a memory you take for memories sake, a photograph is a memory you take after planning it out and carefully choosing how, when , why , where and who.
I know you hogs probably can give me a better description and that sometimes a picture becomes a lucky photograph. Any positive help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I think you already have it nailed! Go with it!!

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I think you should focus on composition rather than on trying to define the difference between a picture and a photograph which is vague and open to considerable argument. Is that really necessary?

I would focus more on a discussion of the use of light, shadow, texture and shape in color and monochrome images, as well as the general 'rules' of composition which are a useful starting point in composing a visually interesting image.

Keep it as simple and practical as possible with concrete examples that clearly delineate the points you're trying to get across. I would avoid vague and amorphous definitions that may ultimately cause more confusion than clarity for young inexperienced minds.

Ruraldi Loc: Milmay, NJ

Thank you for the suggestions. I'm just starting getting my thoughts together.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

According to the Reader's Digest's Encyclopedic Dictionary, "a photograph is a 'picture' taken by photography."

A picture is "a visual representation of a subject or scene on a flat surface, as a painting, drawing, engraving, or photograph.

From that, I would surmise that a photograph can be a picture and a picture can be a photograph. So, not much difference. Maybe it is only a matter of personal word choice.

You can go from there.

PoppieJ Loc: North Georgia

Composition doesn’t have to be about photography. It is about how things relate to tell the story you are trying to get across. If it were a music class then it is about the notes and how they relate to each other and what the composer wants to get across “mood” if you will. So composition is really about different elements of whatever medium and how the come across to the audience to tell the story

R.G. Loc: Scotland

How about "What's the difference between a good photograph and a snapshot?" That question will be more conducive to revealing the pertinent generic fundamentals of composition. As others have pointed out, your original question is wide open to interpretation and is likely to lead to a debate revolving around various abstractions and theories, and will most likely gravitate towards a discussion about semantics.

The only real difference between a picture and a photograph is that the contents of the photograph are limited by what reality offers whereas with a picture you can have whatever your imagination is capable of conceiving.

goldenyears Loc: Lake Osewgo

I think of a "photograph" as a visual representation of something captured with a camera, and a "picture" as a general term. But I think I see what you are trying to get at. What is the camera being used for? To record or to create?

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

At the farmers' market where I sell cards in my wife's jewelry booth, we have a "professional" fine art photographer selling prints from the booth next to us. I tell the people looking at my cards that he sells photography and I take pictures.

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

A rose....

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Young teenagers in Junior High School can learn etymology, word origins, usage, and precise definitions in ENGLISH class. If you want to gain their attention and interest, explain a few principles of "composition" and show them how to improve their photography with their camers and cell phones.

"Pictures, Photographs, and Images are just words. I have seen and heard museum curators and art gallery folks, serious collectors, and professors of fine art call MASTERPIECES, "pictures" with absolutely no disrespect but with enthusiasm, affection, and familiarity. I have heard virtuoso classical musicians, accomplished music teachers, and musicologists refer to passages of Baroque symphonies as "tunes".

If you prefer the word "Photograph" then use it- it will rub off. If you imply tht "Picture is a "bad" or inappropriate term or that it describes a poorly crafted photograph, you are just muddying the waters.

My suggestion? The way I teach newcomers to photogahy or young fols about compositors is simple. I start off by teelg that just like written composition, yoy want to tell a story, make a point, or a statement. If your writing is disorganized, confusing to the readers, or contains material that distracts from the point you want to make, the story you are trying to tell, the point you want t make and your statement may be lost In visual art, which includes photogahy, rather than words, sentences, and paragraphs to make our points, we use lines, shapes, colors, direction of light, contrasts, and placemt of our subjects in the frame to direct the viewer's eyes to the most important element of the image.

Once you explain this concept, the next step is to show them PICTURES and how various compositions are more powerful than others, explain a few basic "rules" and how to either use these "rules" or purposely break them for creative purposes.

My favorite theme for kids is "What's Wrong" With This PICTURE"? " Look, it is sharply in focus, the colors are bright, and the photographer set his camer correctly but what do y'all think"? Then I show them the improved composition. I might put in a word about the rule of thirds, or negative space, but at the begging, I don't dwell on those terms.

I hope the kids come back for more. Then, you can get into dynamic symmetry, Euclid Elements, the Golen Ratio, and all that good stuff. To kids, however, if they are not interested in the nuts and bolts of taking pictures, all of that stuff is meaningless technobabble.

I only give them one bit of philosophy. "Composition is a puttg together of elements so as to form a unified whole"!

Forget about buzzwords. If you keep correcting their English or scientific word usage, you will turn them off. If you prefer, AGAIN, use the proper terminology and let it rub off- kids are smart!

Hey, y'all, I was once in Junior High! I was not much of a science nerd (more interested in gym class) until Mr. Silverman's 8th Grade Science class. He was teaching chemical reactions and rapid oxidation. So, he mixed Potassium Permanganate and Glycerin and just about smoked us out of the classroom. If you needed to be a scientist to make a really good stink bomb- I was all in!

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

I think you are confusing them with your definitions. A picture can be a photograph, a drawing, a painting, a lithograph, etc. A photograph is just one type of picture.

Bill_de Loc: US

Never mind. John already said what I was thinking.

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JerryS4605

While teach High School students , I was appointed to be the sponsored of an enrichment type class on beginning photography. I chose to concentrate on how to use a DSL tep camera. I had students bri g 5hir own camera olus I had 3 from a CA on Rebel yp to a D 90. Some brought film camers and we had all sorts of cameras from cell phones and even some Mickey Mouse camera.

I sistiquesed between snapshots a d pictures as something g shared on electronic devices or social media nowadays. A photograph may ha e some editing done to 8.pro e what 4he camera captured. These are printed off on dome type of media creating a photograph. I'm going to stir a big departed here as in my humble opinion as an uneducated hobbies in the field of photography and say that when a photograph is edited to a point the image can no longer be captured by a lens it. Econes Art. So I have snapshots/pictures/photograpgs/Art. I know many on here are much more qualified to give you a much better answer

Keep educating others on the joys of taking pictures what ever thir skill level.

Jerry

Boosesb

I agree.