Symbol photo
In print and online media as well as on television, a symbolic photo or image is a pictorial representation that is printed with text or superimposed on what is spoken, which does not represent the specific facts, but rather comes from an independent context. For this purpose, for example, a scene that has not been captured in an image is reproduced, visualized in an abstract manner, represented using a photo montage or an image of a similar motif is used that comes from a different context.
There are agencies that offer symbolic photos for various subject areas commercially.
German press code
The press code of the German Press Council requires in section 2: "Symbolic photos must be recognizable as such or be made recognizable." In section 2, guideline 2.2, it says: "Can an illustration, especially a photograph, be interpreted as a documentary image when read briefly , although it is a symbolic photo, a corresponding clarification is required. So (...) are to be made clearly perceptible in the caption or reference text as such. "
Notwithstanding the definition of photography, publishers also use fully computer-generated images to illustrate their statements.
A counterpart to the use of images on food packaging is labeling as a serving suggestion .