Photogenic vs. Picturesque — What's the Difference?

(especially of a person) looking attractive in photographs or on film

Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year 1770, a practical book which instructed England’s leisured travellers to examine “the face of a country by the rules of picturesque beauty”.

(of an organism or tissue) producing or emitting light.

Of, suggesting, or suitable for a picture

Attractive as a subject for photography.

Striking or interesting in an unusual way; irregularly or quaintly attractive

(Biology) Producing or emitting light; phosphorescent

Strikingly expressive or vivid

Caused or produced by light

Resembling or worthy of a picture or painting; having the qualities of a picture or painting; pleasingly beautiful.

Generated or caused by light.

Strikingly graphic or vivid; having striking and vivid imagery.

Producing or emitting light, luminescent.

Forming, or fitted to form, a good or pleasing picture; representing with the clearness or ideal beauty appropriate to a picture; expressing that peculiar kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture, natural or artificial; graphic; vivid; as, a picturesque scene or attitude; picturesque language.

Looking good when photographed.

Suggesting or suitable for a picture; pretty as a picture;

Of or pertaining to photogeny; producing or generating light.

Strikingly expressive;

Looking attractive in photographs