'photographable' originates from English, built from the noun 'photograph' plus the suffix '-able'. 'Photograph' itself ultimately comes from Greek elements: 'photo-' (from Greek 'phōs', meaning 'light') and '-graph' (from Greek 'graphein', meaning 'to write' or 'to record'), while the suffix '-able' comes via Old French from Latin 'abilis' meaning 'able or capable of'.

'photographable' was formed in English by adding the productive adjectival suffix '-able' to the 19th-century noun 'photograph' (a coinage from the mid-1800s referring to images produced by light-recording processes), producing the adjective meaning 'able to be photographed'.

Initially related to the newly coined idea of 'photograph' (an image produced by capturing light), 'photographable' has consistently meant 'capable of being photographed' or 'suitable for photographic capture' and has retained that core sense.