Picture or photo? What's the difference?
This is an interesting subject that comes up often in photography circles. What really is the difference between the two of these words, if any?
 
   
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By Reymar Gooding
a long time ago.
 
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If we look at the definition of the word "picture" we will see that it is defined most popularly as: "a visual representation of a person, object, or scene, as a painting, drawing, photograph, etc." In the same manner, the word "photograph" is defined as: "a picture produced by photography. "

This suggests that while a photograph is a picture, a picture may not always be a photograph. For example, an artist who specializes in photography would not want his or her art to be referred to as a picture any more than a painter would want their paintings to be referred to as a picture, although viewers, who are not artists themselves would not be to tell the difference.

Pictures
I consider these to be all those images we take at parties, out on vacations, at family reunions, liming with friends, basically, snapshots that don't require us to think of the composition, lighting, setup or anything else.

Photos
These on the other hand, are those images that need our photographic talent to be put in motion. That is, we have to think how the lighting will be, if the subject is well lit, if the composition we chosen is suitable, if the setup isn't too crowded or too empty or unbalanced and if the image has a powerful idea or not.

Even further, now in our pop-culture society, the term "snap-shot" has become more readily accepted to outline the difference between someone who has a camera and captures images fully relying on advanced technology to create a pleasing image and one who deliberately sets a scene and manipulates the settings on his or her camera to create an image.