We spend a lot of time thinking about how to create and take a photo, but we may not be as precise as trying to understand a photo that has been taken. In addition to people who have studied photography professionally, we usually only see a photo as a technically correct picture of what the photographer sees when taking the photo.
There is no sure way to understand a photo. In fact, our approach to understanding a photo may change, depending on your purpose or how you want to use the photo. For example, when you look at a photo to get information about history, you will be more concerned about the cultural views of the photographer and the social behaviors that apply when the photo is taken. Conversely, if you want to find a social meaning in a photograph, you will pay more attention to the techniques used by the photographer to determine the subject of the photo.
Photo connoisseurs may not agree with the quality or relationship of a photo, and they can-and usually do-make different interpretations of a photo. What usually happens is when we've got one meaning from a photo, then we look back at the photo, we understand in different ways and get different meanings from the same photo. However, there is a limit to how far we can interpret the photo. The limit is not what the photographer wants to convey in the photo, but whether the picture we get is still in accordance with the picture in the photo. The interpretations that alter the photographs to be incompatible and contrary to other parts are considered to be unauthorized interpretations.
