Sometimes I will see TV advertisements or warnings or some other media which makes a claim visually, rather than explicitly with words.
If there is no ambiguity or differing interpretations about what is being claimed, is it ok to use visual claims as the basis of a question?
An example would be the famous photograph of construction workers eating lunch on a construction beam over Midtown, NYC.
Many people have wondered if this photo is staged or not and it seems hard to find an answer one way or the other. Would it be necessary to find a written or spoken claim to ask a question about this photo, or is the photo itself sufficient?
Another example may be some the smoke health warnings on packets of cigarettes in some countries, such as in Australia.
The text makes a demonstrably true claim, however the picture seems to imply an additional extent of that claim. Would it be acceptable to ask if the damage done in the picture can result from smoking alone? I think is a good example as I have heard people criticize the warnings on the basis that they used people with a variety of health issues as examples.
Additionally, a question posted by Oddthinking used a picture only as the sole basis for a question. Should questions like this be acceptable?