Abstract: The subject of the study is the analysis of the preservation and creation of an image in the art of photography. The invention of photography and the creation of a technical image is considered the second turning point in human culture. An image is an imagination, an illusion, it is a reflection of the sensory world. The object of the study is the specificity and evolution of attitudes towards the concept of an image in photography as an aesthetic phenomenon. The language of fine art, as an earlier phenomenon, had a significant impact on the creation of a photographic image, but the role of photography in changing the language of fine art is also noted. The purpose of this work is to identify the features of the formation of photographic thinking, in the analysis of its evolution. As a methodological basis of the study, the formal-stylistic method of cognition, the method of sensory cognition and historical and cultural analysis are used. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the analysis of the role of imagination, illusion, magic in creating a photographic image. Causal relationships do not work here - the image of the acts as an intermediary between the world and man. Both the photographer and the subject are the directors of the creation of the image, and the game becomes part of its creation. The image is what the director-photographer wants to see, and how the subject feels. However, the freedom of the photographer is limited by the quality of the equipment, which makes it necessary to improve the technical means of the camera more and more. Creating an image is the implementation of the technical capabilities that are embedded in the camera. The image of photography is the subjective vision of the master, the transformation of the real world into the world of illusion.