95% of the time, when a character is described as having a “photographic” memory, what’s really meant is that the character has an especially accurate/precise memory for details.
Whereas “photographic memory” implies the ability to capture a scene like a photograph, down to the ability to “look at it” after the fact and notice details you didn’t the first time.
Of course, that second thing isn’t actually an ability that exists in reality, but that doesn’t mean I give writers a pass on the weird sloppy terminology.
