# Choose an image method by its job

Blankout · September 2026
Companion: https://blankout.co/notes/photography-illustration-or-generation

| Image | Reader's task | Allowed claim | Source evidence | Placement | Fidelity requirement | Production method | Revision needs | Caption / credit | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | | | | | | |

## Worked related-venture examples

| Source | Duty | Suitable use | Method decision | Caption boundary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RSH website capture, September 2026 | Inspect the actual interface | Case body | Capture the real page, keeping its text and geometry | Dated capture; not a new physical application |
| Kickbrand mineral planes and seam | Express promise/experience connection | Source illustration; interpreted project cover | Preserve the relationship; native geometry and generated card treatment can provide a new presentation | Editorial interpretation; no claim of fabricated stone/card work |
| InnerStunner illustrated workshop scene | Give the hiring product human context | Site illustration and case discussion | Retain the supplied illustrative status; use actual photography for a future claim about real people | Illustration, not a real employee or successful hire |

These ventures are related to the same team. The method decisions are recommendations, not measured performance results.

## Caption decision sequence

1. Actual delivered thing: identify it and give a relevant capture date or context.
2. Imagined or interpreted thing: identify it as a concept, study or illustration where that affects meaning.
3. Real source in a new setting: distinguish which part is actual when a reader might otherwise infer a false application.
4. Claim about a real result: obtain suitable evidence; a caption cannot replace it.

## Commissioning questions

What must remain exact? What may be interpreted? Can the selected method support later subjects, crops and revisions? Which editable sources and derivatives are required? Who approves the claim and image together? What is the actual cost envelope, including review and revisions?

Record the answers before ordering a large batch. Photographs can express, illustrations can document, and combinations may serve the job. No method is automatically the cheapest or most effective.