提出摄影与图像的分离需要重新理解摄影的非图像性。文章从图像的五个悖论入手，提出图像的基本性质，进而把摄影与图像区分开。摄影是一种行动、一个过程，而图像只是主体与对象通过摄影机相连的痕迹。摄影的本质在于自然的“给定”与人的“摄取”之间的张力，摄影理论史上的重要美学论断都来自对这种配比关系的强调，比如巴赞、罗兰·巴特对“给定”的强调，以及包豪斯、画意派对“摄取”的推崇。摄影的媒介操作也随着技术发生变化，传统光化学摄影与光电信号摄影在图像性上有所区别，而以电子游戏摄影为代表的生成图像则完全与外部世界的视觉物象无关，成为一种对虚拟世界进行“摄取”的摄影，但依然遵循着摄影的内在定义。

The separation of photography and image requires a new understanding of the non-image nature of photography. Starting from the five paradoxes of image, this paper examines the basic nature of image, and then distinguishes photography from image. Photography is an “action” and a “process”, while image is the trace that connects the subject and the object through the camera. The essence of photography lies in the tension between the “given” of nature and the “capture” of the photographer, and many important aesthetic judgments in the history of photography theories are made by emphasizing this tension. For instance, André Bazan and Roland Barthes emphasize on the “given”, whereas Bauhaus and Pictorialism underline the significance of the “capture”. The media essence of photography has also changed with the development of technology. The traditional photochemical photography and photoelectric signal photography are quite different in terms of the nature of image. Moreover, the generative image represented by video game photography is independent of the visual objects from the external world. It becomes the photography that “captures” the virtual world, but still follows the intrinsic definition of photography.