Imagery Vs Images

Question

It seems now commonplace, for a bunch of photographs to be referred to as "imagery", even if they are just records rather than trying to evoke some feeling. Is that correct use of the term imagery?  I would have thought they should be referred to simply as images.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I agree with you that 'images' sounds much better.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

I know I'm a little late to the game on this post, but the term "imagery" is often used in satellite and remote sensing organisations and in the military to refer to what is usually a collection of images of a certain geographic area, frequently taken in non-visible parts of the electro-magnetic spectrum. I think "imagery" is used instead of "images" to distinguish between a plain photo and the much greater amount of data that is contained within one single satellite image. It could also just be professional organisations wanting to use their own jargon, or simply a usage that fell into favour amongst those who deal with large collections of images used for the purpose of gathering data. In short, yes, that can be the correct use of the term "imagery", however I don't think using "images" in its place would ever be considered incorrect.

Imagery Vs Images

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