Reading text and images together'

1
Reading text and images together.
You should realise by now that any image can be
read in the same way that a piece of text can. An
audience decodes, or makes sense, of the meanings
contained in a picture to understand its intended
meaning. However the same picture could have
several different meanings for different people.
An image that can be interpreted in more than one
way is said to be polysemic. By adding text to
an image it is possible to ensure that everybody
understands it in the same way. This process is
called anchorage. It works in the same way that
an anchor holds an object steady- in this case
the preferred meaning of a picture.
2
Look at these examples Is it possible to
understand them just by looking at the content?
or could they have more than one meaning?
3
Look at how the meaning of each image can be
changed by simply adding some text in the form
of a caption. Now, everybody reads it in the same
way - the meaning is anchored by the text.
Year 8 pupils enjoy panning for gold on recent
school trip.
Homeless pair find water to drink from culvert
after earthquake.
4
This really is polysemic without text to anchor
the meaning it could mean anything.
Foreman identifies fault in furnace.
Practical joke goes wrong in horrific factory
accident.
5
Police mediator pleads with hostage takers at
local secondary school.
Dance teacher anxiously awaits results of X-
Factor audition.
6
How many different captions can you think of for
the remaining picture?
When you are looking at newspaper photographs,
adverts, posters, book or magazine covers you
must be able to write about how the images and
text work together in order to create meaning.