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What is the difference between "image", "picture" and "photo"?

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Question added by Samar Saleh , Community Manager , Bayt.com
Date Posted: 2015/11/03
Jamal Uddin
by Jamal Uddin , Translation Project Manager , Translation Specialists

"Image" refers to a representation of a real or imaginary object and can include a photo, drawing, picture, painting, etc. The word "picture" can be used to describe a photo or something drawn or painted, while the word "photo" is only used for camera images.

ahmed abdallah
by ahmed abdallah , Language Instructor , King Saud University

·         A photo strictly refers to something captured by a camera. A photo is specifically formed by the capture of the light from the subject on a light-sensitive medium, originally glass plates, then film, now usually an electronic sensor. A photo is like a replica of the object, which is why we talk about photo copies and not image copies.

·         A picture is the most general term for any representation of a person, an object or a landscape. It can include drawings, paintings, or computer-generated. It is a visual representation (of an object, scene, person or abstraction) produced on a surface. All photos are pictures, but not all pictures are photos.

 ·         An image is (usually) a visual depiction of something. It also refers to slightly more abstract things. For example, you are looking up at the sky and see the image of a heart in a cloud. When you see or look in a mirror, what you see is your image in the mirror, and not your photo though it is an exact replica of yourself in2 D. When you describe a person on the basis of your memory, what you do is, you try to visualize his image in your mind. You do not say that you have his photo in your mind. The word image is also used to refer to characteristic trait or the personality of an individual, and people expect the person to behave according to his image.

Rasha Gharaybeh
by Rasha Gharaybeh , Forex Trader , Global Options for Commercial Brokerage

-Image: represent tangible pictures or photos and also intangible as general impression.

-Picture: can be paint or photo.

-Photo: that is taken by a camera. 

جعفر دفع الله محي الدين محي الدين
by جعفر دفع الله محي الدين محي الدين , مترجم , مكتب طه الإدريسي للترجمة المعتمدة

An image is a broader expression and it includes the general impression you had about something, representation of something or someone, and pictures and photos as well. Picture is mainly related to painting. The photo is a sort of picture produced by the effect of light and mainly produced through using cameras. 

Shawqi Alqubati
by Shawqi Alqubati , Translator , Translation

Image:

     To picture in the mind; imagine

            Image is digital.  Pictures are for paintings.

To visualize or imagine, to describe or depict, esp vividly

Photos are traditional with cameras.

Photo from Greek phōs, phōt- light

Pradeep Sharma
by Pradeep Sharma , English Language Training Instructor , King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah (KSA)

The word "image" has several connotations, and one of them is 'an imitation of nature,' for example, a painting of a natural object, or a photographed object, which is similar to the meanings of other words in this group - picture and photograph. Several other meanings are not. For instance, you portray an image of yours before others, or, a mental image of something. "Picture" too has several meanings. A picture can be drawn, painted or taken with a camera. A photograph can only be taken with a camera; you can't paint a photograph. So, basically all the three words denote the same things in one sense or the other, but they differ in usage in different contexts. For instance, you can form an 'image' of someone in your mind, but you can't form a 'photo' the same way.  

Salman Mansour
by Salman Mansour , Communication & Information Technology Manger , The Palestinian Legislative Council

A "photo" is something that was taken with a camera. Short for "Photograph". Photo means 'light'. An "image" is something generated or a representation of something in any other way. This can be a combination of different photos, part of a photo that has been greatly edited, or really, anything that has been made in Adobe Photoshop.All elephants are gray things, but not all grey things are elephants. All photos are images, but not all images are photos

john nwanaka
by john nwanaka , HEADMAN , QUTERMASTER, HOUSEBOOTH KEEPER, BULIDER DECKANMATER , JULIUS BEGER NIGERIN PLC

Picture and photo are almost the same but an image may look like shdow some times 

Hind AlGhamdi
by Hind AlGhamdi , مساعد اداري - سكرتير المدير العام , مستشفى الدكتور سليمان الحبيب- العليا

1) photo related to camera and image related to sensor scanning system.

2) photo is the exact representation of objects and image is the similar representation of objects in any way.

3) so all photos are images and all images are not photos.

Elsidieg Alsheltat
by Elsidieg Alsheltat , supervisor , Misurata oil field services & Transportation Co. (MISCO)

photo is take shoot or someone that use in formal issues, picture is related to most things that we have taking, image may not related to reality.

Felicity Thornton
by Felicity Thornton , Learning and Development Manager , KPMG Lower Gulf

Image is from the same root as imagination.  This means an image can be a% literal visual representation like a photo or it can be something more abstract that we conjure up in our own minds, perhaps as the result of viewing a photo or a picture.  In that way image can apply to lots of things from the concrete to the conceptual.  For example, we all have an image of ourselves which includes not just how we look and behave on the outside but what that appearance says about us to the viewer.

Picture suggests an image that is still.  A drawing, a painting, a photo, an imagined scene.  The picture may represent an abstract idea but it is fixed in the moment.

A photo is a literal visual image captured using digital media or film via a camera.  Like a picture it is still and, like all images, the viewer can apply any number of interpretations of what is viewed.

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