Semiotics
Written by Abin Alex and Anu Joseph.
Abstract
Semiotics is the study of signs and how they gain meaning. This guide explains the sign, codes and culture, then covers the signifier and signified of Saussure, the icon, index and symbol of Peirce, and the denotation, connotation and myth of Barthes, using the Paris Match cover as the standard example. It shows how photographers and filmmakers can read a picture through its choices of subject, focus, light, angle and caption, and how advertising uses signs. The theories are presented as tools for reading images, not fixed laws.
Keywords: Semiotics; sign; signifier and signified; icon, index and symbol; denotation and connotation
What is semiotics?
Short answer. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and how they carry meaning.
- The word comes from the Greek semeion, meaning sign. Semiotics is a systematic attempt to understand what signs are and how they work.
- It also studies the social, cultural and historical processes through which things such as photographs gain and pass on meaning.
- Signs are found in speech and writing, in music, in cinema, in sculpture and dance, and in the structure of a picture (Figure 1).
- Semiotics can be applied to cinema, theatre, design, advertising, architecture, painting, politics, medicine and religion.
- Painters and photographers convey messages through their choice of subject, context, focus, lighting, angle, process and presentation.
- Saussure proposed a science of signs and called it semiology. Peirce called his theory of signs semiotic. Today the field is usually called semiotics (Saussure, 1959; Peirce, in Marty).
- Nothing is a sign unless someone interprets it as a sign.
Pick any photograph and list what it shows. Then ask what each item stands for. That second question is the start of semiotics.
A film frame is full of signs: costume, colour, props, light and gesture. Directors choose them because audiences read them without being told.
Cham tipAsk two questions of every picture: what does it show, and what does it stand for?
Cham taskChoose one photograph and write five things in it that stand for something beyond themselves.
Check yourself: What does semeion mean?
Sign.
What are signs, codes and culture?
Short answer. Signs are organised by codes, and codes work inside a culture.
- A sign can take the form of a word, image, sound, gesture, smell, taste, act or object.
- These things have no meaning of their own. They become signs only when people interpret them as standing for something else.
- Codes are the ways signs are organised to meet the needs of a society. Road signs, dress and film grammar are codes.
- Culture is the setting in which signs and codes operate. The same sign can mean different things in different cultures (Figure 2).
- In some cultures white clothes mark a wedding. In others they mark mourning. A photographer working across cultures has to know which code the viewer uses.
- We read most signs without noticing, by relating them to familiar conventions.
Before you publish a picture, ask who will read it and which codes they know. A picture that works at home can read differently elsewhere.
Film grammar is a code. Audiences learn that a close-up means importance and a fade means time passing, and filmmakers rely on that learning.
Cham tipCheck the colour, dress and gesture in your frame against the culture of your viewer.
Cham taskList three signs from your own culture that would be misread in another culture. Say why.
Check yourself: What is a code in semiotics?
A way signs are organised to meet the needs of a society.
What did Saussure say about the sign?
Short answer. A sign has two parts: the form and the concept it brings to mind.
- Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist. His Course in General Linguistics, first published in 1916, set out a science of signs (Saussure, 1959).
- His sign is dyadic. The signifier is the form, such as a sound, written word or image. The signified is the concept it calls up (Figure 3).
- In a photograph, the visible image works as the signifier. The idea it brings to the viewer is the signified.
- One signifier can carry many signifieds. A red rose can mean love, grief or a political party (Figure 4).
- The link between signifier and signified rests on social agreement, not on a natural bond.
- Signs get meaning from their relations with other signs. A signal that is on means something because it can be off (Figure 5).
- Saussure built his model on language, so it fits images less directly than it fits words.
Take a portrait and name the signifier, which is the visible image, and then the signified, which is the idea you want the viewer to take away.
A recurring prop, such as a clock or a flower, can be given a signified by the story. The audience then reads the prop as that idea.
Cham tipIf the signified is unclear, change the signifier. Add or remove one element and check again.
Cham taskPhotograph one object three ways so it suggests three different ideas. Name the signified for each.
Check yourself: Which part of the sign is the concept?
The signified.
What did Peirce say about signs?
Short answer. Peirce described a three-part sign and three kinds of link: icon, index and symbol.
- Charles Sanders Peirce was an American philosopher. His sign has three parts: the representamen, which is the sign itself; the object it stands for; and the interpretant (Figure 6).
- The interpretant is not the person who reads the sign. It is the effect the sign produces in a mind, and it is itself a sign of the same object (Peirce, in Marty).
- Peirce also described three ways a sign can be tied to its object (Figure 7).
- An icon shares characters with its object. A drawing of the sun, a portrait and a statue are icons.
- An index is really connected to its object. Smoke is an index of fire, and a footprint or tyre track is an index of what made it.
- A symbol works by habit or convention, such as a flag or a word (Peirce, in Marty).
- Many writers call a photograph indexical because light from the scene produced it. A photograph can be an icon, because it looks like its subject, and an index at the same time.
- Signifier and signified belong to Saussure, not to Peirce. Do not mix the two models.
Look for indexes in a scene: tracks, shadows, worn steps, smoke. They show that something happened and make a picture feel true.
An index is a quick way to tell a story. A cold cup, an unmade bed or muddy boots tell the audience what happened without a line of dialogue.
Cham tipUse one clear index. Several competing traces confuse the story.
Cham taskPhotograph one icon, one index and one symbol on a single walk. Label each.
Check yourself: What is an index?
A sign really connected to its object, such as smoke for fire.
What did Barthes add: denotation, connotation and myth?
Short answer. Barthes showed that a picture carries a literal meaning and a second, cultural one.
- Roland Barthes was a French theorist. In Mythologies, first published in 1957, he examined how everyday images carry ideas (Barthes, 1972).
- Denotation is the literal meaning, what the picture shows. Connotation is the figurative meaning, the ideas and feelings it carries (Figure 8).
- His best-known example is a Paris Match cover showing a young Black soldier saluting. On the first level it is a saluting soldier. On the second it suggests that France is a great empire whose subjects of every colour serve it loyally (Fagerjord, 2006).
- Barthes used the word myth for a second-order sign. An existing sign becomes the signifier of a new sign (Fagerjord, 2006).
- Myth presents a social arrangement as natural, as if it could not be otherwise (Fagerjord, 2006).
- His terms for the second level are form, concept and signification (Fagerjord, 2006).
- Connotations that are widely accepted start to feel like plain facts. A photographer can use this on purpose, or check a picture for it.
- Barthes also used the pair denotation and connotation in his essay on the rhetoric of the image. We have not checked that essay for this guide.
Describe a picture twice. First say only what you can see. Then say what ideas it suggests. The gap between the two is the connotation.
A hero lit from below, a flag in the background, a slow motion salute: each stacks a second meaning on top of the literal image.
Cham tipWhenever a picture feels natural and obvious, ask what idea it is making look natural.
Cham taskChoose a news photograph. Write its denotation in one line and its connotation in one line.
Check yourself: What did Barthes mean by myth?
A second-order sign that makes a social idea look natural.
How do I read a photograph with semiotics?
Short answer. Treat each choice as a sign and ask what idea it carries.
- Semiotics in photography is the observation of symbolism in a picture, or reading the picture.
- A photograph can be treated as a sign with a signifier, a signified and an interpretant.
- The maker conveys messages through subject, context, focus, light, angle, process and presentation (Figure 9).
- Words change a picture. The same image with a different caption can carry a different message (Figure 10).
- A practical order for reading: what is shown, what it suggests, who the intended reader is, and which code it uses.
- A picture is meaningful only if it has something relevant to say. The signifier carries the message and the signified is the message itself.
- Different viewers can read the same picture differently, because the interpretant depends on the reader.
Before you shoot, write the message in one sentence. After you shoot, ask a friend to say what they read in the picture. Compare the two.
Editing adds a layer. Two shots placed side by side create a meaning that neither has alone, so a sequence is read as a set of signs.
Cham tipWrite the caption last, and check that it supports the picture and does not fight it.
Cham taskTake one photograph and write two captions that give it two different messages.
Check yourself: Name three choices a photographer makes that viewers can read as signs.
Subject, focus, light, angle or context.
How does advertising use signs?
Short answer. An advertisement turns an object into a sign for an idea.
- Advertising builds meaning on purpose. An object is shown so that it stands for an idea (Figure 11).
- A steaming cup at sunrise can stand for a fresh start. The product then takes on that idea.
- Ads use all three of Peirce's links. The product looks like itself (icon), steam shows heat (index), and a logo or colour works by convention (symbol).
- Barthes analysed advertising images as well as news photographs, so his ideas apply to commercial work.
- An ad works only if the viewer knows the code. A joke or a colour that is clear in one culture may fail in another.
- Watch for myth. Ads often make a way of life look natural and desirable.
Photograph a product with one supporting prop that carries the idea, such as a sunrise, a hand or a season. Remove everything that does not help.
In a short ad film, every prop, colour and location has to earn its place as a sign. There is no time for decoration.
Cham tipWrite the idea first, then choose the one object that stands for it.
Cham taskPick a printed advertisement. Name its signifier, its signified and the code the viewer needs.
Check yourself: In an ad, what does the object stand for?
An idea that the product then takes on.
What are the limits of semiotics?
Short answer. Semiotics gives a vocabulary for reading images. It does not predict how a viewer will respond.
- Semiotics gives you words for asking questions about an image. It does not tell you how any particular viewer will react.
- The models differ. Saussure has two parts, Peirce three parts and Barthes two levels. Table 1 compares them.
- Readings depend on culture and context, so no reading is final.
- Some popular accounts say signs exist to defend us from reality. That is a psychological claim and is not part of the models above.
- Use semiotics to ask better questions before you shoot and after you edit. Treat the answers as informed readings, not proofs.
| Thinker | Model of the sign | Key terms | Question for a photograph |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saussure | Two parts | signifier, signified | What does it show and what idea does it carry? |
| Peirce | Three parts and three links | representamen, object, interpretant; icon, index, symbol | How does it relate to its subject: likeness, trace or convention? |
| Barthes | Two levels | denotation, connotation, myth | What idea does it make look natural? |
Table 1. The three main theories compared. The last column is our teaching question, not a quotation from the theorists.
Keep a reading log. For each picture you study, write the denotation, the connotation and the code you think it uses.
Directors and editors use semiotic thinking all the time without the vocabulary. The vocabulary makes the choices easier to discuss.
Cham tipWhen two readings of a picture conflict, say so. Do not force one answer.
Cham taskRead one photograph using each of the three theories in turn. Note what each one lets you see.
Check yourself: Which thinker used signifier and signified?
Saussure.
Questions beginners ask
What is semiotics?
Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and how they carry meaning. In photography it means reading a picture as a set of signs.
What is the difference between signifier and signified?
The signifier is the form, such as a word or image. The signified is the concept it brings to mind. The pair comes from Saussure.
What are icon, index and symbol?
They are Peirce's three links between a sign and its object. An icon resembles it, an index is connected to it, and a symbol works by convention.
What are denotation and connotation?
Denotation is the literal meaning of a picture. Connotation is the cultural or figurative meaning it carries.
What is myth in Barthes' sense?
Myth is a second-order sign that makes a social idea look natural. In his Paris Match example, a saluting soldier suggests a loyal empire.
How is semiotics used in photography?
Photographers use it to plan and read the choices of subject, focus, light, angle, context and caption, and to check what ideas a picture carries.
References
- Barthes, R. (1972) Mythologies. Translated by A. Lavers. London: Jonathan Cape. (First published 1957.)
- Fagerjord, A. (2006) Roland Barthes: Mythologies. Lecture notes, 30 March. Available at: https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/imk/MEVIT2110/v06/undervisningsmateriale/barthes.html (Accessed: 31 October 2026).
- Peirce, C.S. (1931-1958) Collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. Edited by C. Hartshorne, P. Weiss and A. Burks. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Definitions quoted in Marty, R. 76 definitions of the sign by C.S. Peirce. Available at: https://cspeirce.com/rsources/76defs/76defs.htm (Accessed: 31 October 2026).
- Saussure, F. de (1959) Course in general linguistics. Translated by W. Baskin. New York: Philosophical Library. (First published 1916.)
How to cite this guide. Alex, A., & Joseph, A. (2026). semiotics: A guide for photographers and cinematographers. Creative Hut Academy. https://creativehut.org/library/semiotics/
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