

Photo is the short form for the word photograph.

This is because of the fact that 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 that is nothing but media hype. You do not say that you have his photo in your mind, but come up with some details based upon the image of the person in your iconic memory.

Again, when you describe a person on the basis of your memory, what you do is, you try to visualize his image in your mind. 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 in 2 D. What does your identity proof contain, a photo or an image? Let us try to understand the different meanings of photo and image and, based on that, find out the differences between a photo and an image. Apart from referring to a snapshot, both photo and image have other meanings too, and it is prudent to take a look at the context in which either of these words is being used.

It is a fact that nearly all of us use the words photo and image to refer to snapshots taken from our digital cameras or to those paper versions that remind us of old cameras. The difference between photo and image mainly exists in the meaning of the two.
