Scientific Journal of Pazhuhesh-e Honar

Although registering of the real-world elements has forged in the essence of photography, a photograph doesn’t provide a similar and as much as identical to the real world, and it has, besides of the openness character, an expressionistic capability as well. In fact, a photograph could be seen as a symbolic text which implies variably subject to an addressee’s interpretation and hermeneutics.Hence, Analyzing and reading a photograph on the basis of the analytical instruments of the semiotics approach and that is, extend the studies regarding criticism of photograph are purposes of this paper. Thus, in this paper, some of the analytical instruments of the semiotics approach, such as the principle of substitution and accompanying, transaction and conflict of symbols, implicit and explicit meaning, context or background and contextually, have been trialed in analysis and reading a photograph. The raised questions are: 1. what is the mechanism and factor of the analytical instruments in reading a photograph?

2. What is the significance of these instruments in analyzing-reading and criticism of a photogtaph? The methodology of research is descriptive-analytical.

The results indicate that by applying the instruments of the semiotics approach, in addition to systemic analyzing and reading of photos, various conceptual, visual and aesthetic manifestations would be revealed and a framework would be provided for aesthetic and qualitative evaluation. So that, according to the semiotics analytical tools, photographs is categorized in three general groups in respect of their importance: 1. Photographer-oriented, 2.