A mirror's reflecting surface in a diagram is represented b a hatching In optics, a real image is an image which is located in the plane of convergence for the light rays that originate from a given object. If a screen is placed in the plane of a real image the image will generally become visible on the screen. Examples of real images include the image seen on a cinema screen (the source being the projector), the image produced on a detector in the rear of a camera, and the image produced on an eyeball retina (the camera and eye focus light through an internal convex lens). In ray diagrams (such as the images on the right), real rays of light are always represented by full, solid lines; perceived or extrapolated rays of light are represented by dashed lines. A real image occurs where rays converge, whereas a virtual image occurs where rays only appear to converge.
Real images can be produced by concave mirrors and converging lenses if and only if the object is placed further away from the mirror/lens than the focal point and this real image is inverted. As the object approaches the focal point the image is approaching infinity, and when the object passes the focal point the image becomes virtual and is not inverted.
When we look into a convex mirror or see through a concave lens, what we see is not a real image. This image, which appears to be on the near side of the lens or far side of the mirror, is known as a virtual image.
Famous quotes containing the words real and/or image:
“Of the three forms of pride, that is to say pride proper, vanity, and conceit, vanity is by far the most harmless, and conceit by far the most dangerous. The meaning of vanity is to think too much of our bodily advantages, whether real or unreal, over others; while the meaning of conceit is to believe we are cleverer, wiser, grander, and more important than we really are.”
—John Cowper Powys (1872–1963)
“For me, the child is a veritable image of becoming, of possibility, poised to reach towards what is not yet, towards a growing that cannot be predetermined or prescribed. I see her and I fill the space with others like her, risking, straining, wanting to find out, to ask their own questions, to experience a world that is shared.”
—Maxine Greene (20th century)