Photographs vs pictures: Whatever you call it, a photograph is still a photograph

There are several words that can be synonymous with the word “photograph.” “Snapshot and image" are a couple but the one that’s used the most is “picture.” It can be used interchangeably with “photograph” or “photo” but are they the same?

Well, yes and no. A photograph can be considered a picture but a picture can also be a drawing or a painting. “Photograph” has a more specific meaning.

According to napoleon.com, the word “photograph.” was coined by British scientist John Hershel in the 1830s from the Greek words “phos” meaning light and “graphe” meaning drawing or writing. While a picture can be created with charcoal, graphite or paint, a photograph is made with light.

In the film era, a photograph was made by focusing light from a subject through a lens then into a camera. That light would be recorded on film coated with a silver emulsion. The film would be process through chemical baths that would reveal a negative image. That image would be turned into a photographic print by reversing the process in the darkroom by shining light through the negative via an enlarger onto a light sensitive piece of paper. That paper would be dunked in chemicals to make the positive image appear.

With the advent of the cyber age photos now exist as pixels on a computer screen or as a series of 1s and 0s on a computer hard drive. Some people have questioned whether the photos made with digital cameras are photographs at all. Some avoid using the word “photograph” and have substituted the terms “image” or “capture” in its place.

I would say that these digital images are still photographs. The process of taking a photo is the same. Light still enters the camera and produces an image. It’s just the medium that’s changed. Instead with light sensitive film and paper, the light is captured by a digital sensor.

Photography has gone through many changes throughout it’s nearly 200 year existence. There have been format innovations from large 8x10 negatives to 35mm film. There have been media advances, from glass plates to film and now digital files. But as long as you can capture images through light, then a photograph will be always be a photograph.

Record photographer Clifford Oto has photographed Stockton and San Joaquin County for more than 36 years. He can be reached at coto@recordnet.com or on Instagram @Recordnet. Follow his blog at recordnet.com/otoblog. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.