Why do we say "image", instead of photograph or picture
Jun 22, 2020 14:53:44 #
Nancysc wrote:
I first noticed the use of "image" about ten years ago at a photography workshop. Now I hear it all the time in YouTube videos about photography. Is there a reason for this usage?
Well, I guess I'm old enough to say - "Back in the day", when I was learning photography and studying the Zone System, you had to first make an Exposure with a previsualized print of how you wanted that scene/subject to look in your mind. After making that previsualized exposure, you had to Develop that exposure into an Image that you could make into your previsualized Photograph. That was a long and laborious process in the film days, and until you created your previsualized Print (or better) it was still just an image.
In the age of digital photography, everything has sped right up in the processing (Image) stage. Hours of wet lab, test printing, drying down, image viewing, etc. is now minutes away on the computer. The Post Processing can now show you the finalized look, right on the screen, to compare to your previsualization BEFORE the print is actually made.
Who could have imaged that in the 50s-60s? Not even Polaroid!
Jun 22, 2020 15:19:05 #
jerryc41 wrote:
You took the letters right out of my mouth. We could also say "photo," but that sounds too amateurish. 
Why do you think "photo" is amateurish? Aren't we all "photo-graphers" in a "photo-graphy" forum?
Jun 22, 2020 15:39:41 #
Rae Zimmerman
Loc: Pine Island, FL
To me an image that has been post processed may be graphic art. That is, I'm reluctant to call it photography when features have been removed, added, repositioned, backgrounds completely changed. The image started as a photograph but evolved into graphic art. Lightening, darkening, altering the intensity, or cropping - those actions performed on a photographic image retains the label "photograph." And I wish all competitions would recognize the difference!
Jun 22, 2020 15:46:37 #
BigDaddy wrote:
All photos are images.
Usage is arbitrary.
Styles/tastes/habits/fads change.
Sometimes for no specific reason.
Usage is arbitrary.
Styles/tastes/habits/fads change.
Sometimes for no specific reason.
...but all images are not photos...
Jun 22, 2020 15:48:11 #
R.G. wrote:
Some say that as soon as you apply editing to a ph... (show quote)
The simple answer would be: all photos or photographs are images, not all images are photos.
Jun 22, 2020 16:00:22 #
Nancysc wrote:
I first noticed the use of "image" about ten years ago at a photography workshop. Now I hear it all the time in YouTube videos about photography. Is there a reason for this usage?
For the same reason that people who teach "comic books" call them "graphic novels," and people who write about "movies" call them "films." It's an attempt to elevate the thing you're talking about. Similarly, if somebody keels over in front of you holding his chest, you're likely to think he had a "heart attack," while a doctor would call it a "cardiac arrest." Incidentally, both "heart" and "attack" are Anglo-Saxon words: "Cardiac" an "arrest" both come from Latin.
Jun 22, 2020 17:31:14 #
jerryc41 wrote:
You took the letters right out of my mouth. We could also say "photo," but that sounds too amateurish.
Having used "photo" for 50 years, I see no reason to change (although I briefly toyed with the idea of calling all my work bromoils). It's virtually impossible to find anyone in the English speaking world, not raised by wolves, who doesn't know what a "photo" is. Call it whatever makes you happy.
And speaking of being raised by wolves,if you haven't seen this GEICO commercial, you definitely should.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwMete-FqGg >Alan
Jun 22, 2020 17:44:32 #
Jun 22, 2020 18:38:14 #
wrangler5 wrote:
I use "picture." To prove that, at my age, I can still spell.
Well spoken!
Jun 22, 2020 18:47:08 #
oregonfrank
Loc: Astoria, Oregon
oregonfrank wrote:
Hardly. There is much to me than the photos I take. Frank
Meant to say, “much more”
Frank
Jun 22, 2020 19:40:43 #
Eureka!
After this earth-shaking debate all my photo images will be known as picture snaps
After this earth-shaking debate all my photo images will be known as picture snaps
Jun 22, 2020 20:04:01 #
Nancysc wrote:
I first noticed the use of "image" about ten years ago at a photography workshop. Now I hear it all the time in YouTube videos about photography. Is there a reason for this usage?
"Picture" implies a physical object. but that collection of pixels that light up on your monitor can't be handled or hung on the wall. Same with the word "photograph". The "graph" part of the word also means a physical representation, which our digital data flickering on the monitor screen just simply is not. It is however an "image" - coming from the same root as "imagination" as it does. The "image" can be converted into a "picture" by using a printer - and it also gains the AKA of "print". It does not deserve the title "photograph" as that still belongs to the things composed of silver halide on paper, but it can borrow the title if introduced with "digital".
Jun 22, 2020 20:25:45 #
Jun 22, 2020 20:29:40 #
CHG_CANON wrote:
If it came only from a camera and was physically printed, it might be a photo. But, after having been processed on a computer, such as the combination of several photos into something new, it's an image. 'Image' is a broader catch-all category that doesn't require caveats regarding source, processing, physical media, so forth. And, less characters to type ...
Well,...Sounds Logical,....I suppose,....???
Jun 22, 2020 21:29:40 #
FotoHog wrote:
Eureka!
After this earth-shaking debate all my photo images will be known as picture snaps
After this earth-shaking debate all my photo images will be known as picture snaps
Sounds like a breakfast cereal with tiny images printed on wheat flakes.
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