The photographic device, amongst the disciplines and mechanisms to aid visual representation through drawing, was the biggest promoter of precision and speed in the reproduction of the visible. The drawing by light provided by the revolutionary photo-graphic system can be interpreted as something different from traditional drawing. There is a challenge of establishing boundaries between the two domains of visual expression, that can approximate and distinguish them due to their identity and differentiating partic-ularities. This study lists the similarities and differences between the analogic drawing and the automation of the representation promoted by photography, clarifying as much as possible the fundamental characteristics that determine them