Editing Image (section)

{{Short description|Visual artifact that depicts or records perception}}
{{About|visual artifacts or reproductions}}
{{Redirect|Picture}}
{{for|Wikipedia image use guidelines|Wikipedia:Images|selfref=y}}
[[File:Image created with a mobile phone.png|thumb|The act of making a 2D image with a [[mobile phone camera]]. The display of the phone shows the [[photograph]] that will be made and stored.|right]]

An '''image''' or '''picture''' is a visual representation. An image can be [[Two-dimensional space|two-dimensional]], such as a [[drawing]], [[painting]], or [[photograph]], or [[Three-dimensional space|three-dimensional]], such as a [[carving]] or [[sculpture]]. Images may be displayed through other media, including a [[Projector|projection]] on a surface, activation of electronic signals, or [[Display device|digital displays]]; they can also be reproduced through mechanical means, such as [[photography]], [[printmaking]], or [[Photocopier|photocopying]]. Images can also be [[Animation|animated]] through digital or physical processes.

In the context of [[signal processing]], an image is a distributed amplitude of color(s).<ref name="Chakravorty-2018">{{Cite journal | doi=10.1109/MSP.2018.2832195|title = What is a Signal? &#91;Lecture Notes&#93;| journal=IEEE Signal Processing Magazine| volume=35| issue=5| pages=175–77|date = September 2018|last = Chakravorty|first = Pragnan| bibcode=2018ISPM...35e.175C |s2cid = 52164353}}</ref> In [[optics]], the term ''image'' (or ''optical image'') refers specifically to the reproduction of an object formed by light waves coming from the object.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia
|title=optical image
|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
|date=20 Jul 1998
|author=
|publisher=
|location=
|id=
|url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/optical-image
|access-date=22 November 2023
}}</ref>

A ''volatile image'' exists or is perceived only for a short period. This may be a reflection of an object by a mirror, a projection of a [[camera obscura]], or a scene displayed on a [[cathode-ray tube]]. A ''fixed image'', also called a [[hard copy]], is one that has been recorded on a material object, such as [[paper]] or [[textile]].<ref name="Chakravorty-2018" />

A [[mental image]] exists in an individual's mind as something one remembers or imagines. The subject of an image does not need to be real; it may be an abstract concept such as a [[graph theory|graph]] or function or an [[imagination|imaginary]] entity. For a mental image to be understood outside of an individual's mind, however, there must be a way of conveying that mental image through the words or visual productions of the subject.