Developing an eye
- This topic has 12 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Sep 20, 2008 at 6:36 pm by
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OK…so I have had my DSLR for almost 2 years now.
Tim all I can say is don’t get discouraged.
I like to think that anyone who has a love for the outdoors has everything they need to take great pictures.Do I have “an eye”…I honestly dont think so..Atleast not one thats any different than anyones elses that loves the outdoors.
Sometimes I *see* something as its presented to me and I know I just have to photograph it. Usually, that has alot todo with the ‘light’, rather than the subject. Although its probably a matter of both.
I also have a ton of foggy images in my mind. This subject…say a white tail…in that enviroment…in some kind of light. Then one day I’ll be walking along looking for whitetails and what I have in my head, is largely there in front of me. Meter, compose, release the shutter. Alot of my personal favorites are a result of this…Maybe they end up being my favorites, not so much due to image quality or that its particularily dynamic…but because Ive accomplished a goal…this kind of image..just so.
I could rhyme off a bunch of images Ive posted here that came about this way.
You can also end up trying to force stuff..God knows Im very guilty of this. This is often a result of the above. preconceived images not presented before me, but me trying to force them.
Composition and stuff. I dont know or think Im strong in that and its something I try to work on. But to me the most important factor in good photos is
light.
Work on recognising good light, dramtic lighting, and any number of other forms. Bad light theres just not alot you can do with.
Glad to see i’m not the only one feeling that way. Sometimes i get so frustrated because i can’t get good pictures or they don’t turn out as good as i think they did when i took the shot.
I agree that some of the pictures that are posted on here i simply would never catch.
You guy’s are really being far to hard on yourselves. Very few photographer’s think they have great shot’s and consider the best ones to be more to the lucky side. I know of some that consider themselves to be great photographer’s with leaps of talent and the truth be known, they aren’t  as good as their equipment.
A good eye is a completely different beast than a good capture. A good eye is much like an oil paint artist that has a good stroke, more of a gift and one that can be built upon. Still, a good eye in photography is not good enough, it is all about what happens after the good eye.
Not every photograph has to be worthy of a pulitzer. Don’t let photography become a competition where one feels that their photograph’s are inferior to another’s. Definitely do not compare your photograph’s to that of a pro shooter as it is their lively hood and if it was that easy, there would be no median in which a pro could make a living from it.
The main focus is how to reproduce what you saw, after all; that is what people really enjoying viewing. I love seeing everyone’s photograph’s but the thing that I really enjoy is seeing what they saw and how they saw it. It is the feelings of their environment that covey’s this essence in photography.
If you really want to learn how to best capture what you saw, and how you saw it. Put the books aside for awhile, except for your camera’s guide book, and start shooting in manual only. These DSLR body’s are loaded with so many amazing features and a preprogrammed setting limits you to what similar images would of had in with the same setting’s: You basically shoot a shot the way that some programmer would of shot it with out seeing what you are shooting.
Then study other images and pay very close attention to the lighting, as John mentioned. Keep in mind that the different strength’s of lighting will effect how you decide to set your camera. When shooting landscapes, look to the sky and get a good estimates of how and when shadows or rays of light will hit your composition. Ask yourself, “What is it in the composition that appeals to you?”. Then set the camera to best capture that shot and do not always try to fit everything into all of the photograph’s, a proper crop really brings a photograph to life.
Main thing is, STOP questioning rather you have a good eye or not as your focus is just setting the camera to capture what you saw. Again, and most importantly, do not compete with other images. It is ok to compare and analyze the difference, for future settings adjustment’s, but don’t ever feel photograph inferior as it is the moment that matters the most…
You are either born with it or will never have it. If you don’t have it yet, just send me all your camera gear and quit while you are ahead. (darn it, I can’t get the smileys to work!!)
Honestly, every photographer can develop (no pun intended) their own style, some people do have an “eye” and I’d like to think that I have one after 20 years of shooting professionally. It’s like everything else some people have natural ability, some don’t but that doesn’t mean that you can’t learn.
Don’t worry about the “eye” and just have fun shooting. Film is cheap, as us old-timers say.You guy’s are really being far to hard on yourselves…
No I’m not…you havent seen my photos.
Tim.
We generally dont display pictures images we dont like. They get deleted like anyone elses.If I had the images I was taking my first year and change….oh wait I do 🙂
As I said I started with pbase. This is my old pbase account
http://www.pbase.com/jben/rootquite a difference eh? I think its safe to say Ive come along way in a few years. Its takes time. I still have a long ways to go.
Time to learn the characteristics of light
Time to lean the technicals ( expsosure values etc)
Time to learn the artistic side (composition etc)
Time to learn editing ( Photoshop)its not unlike flyfishing and fly tieing. Theres a mountain of things to learn, especially if your self taught.
Start with frontlight, morning and evening. Your best pictures initially will almost always come here. As you get comfortable start exploring sidelight, then backlight and flash. Learn to recognise flat, difussed, sweet, harsh light etc. Others things will come.
As Ben said. Shoot and have fun
The thing I have really been enjoying about photography is that it seems to be a never ending process to get really good images. Similar to what John said … To be able to combine all of the technical requirements with all of the artistic ideas, and then add all of options available when post processing on top of that … Â Its an endless process of learning.
I do exactly what Ben mentioned and I think it has helped me to progress the most .. I started to pay attention to what photographs, of other photographers, I really like and determine what it is about those photos that inspires me. I save out my ‘favorite’ photos and go back to look at them as a body, see the characteristics that stick out at me and help to define what I would like to see emerge in my personal ‘style’.
But you see Tim, I already know that you have an eye for it because if you didn’t, you would not be able to distinguish between a good or bad photograph. It is on the technical end that your focus needs to be and weakness lies, you already know when your eye sees an amazing site.
The technical end is more difficult but it comes with a learning cure, manual forces us to learn and it also explains why the early film photographer’s are so great.
Creating ones own style is the most difficult beasts of them all. Once the foundation of knowledge and technical skills are developed, it is much easier to reverse engineer a great photograph and reshoot a somewhat comparable image. Art direction and composition is much more difficult and idea’s can come from the study of photographs.
The study of light gets even more in-depth but one of my favorite research disciplines of study is, analyzing the older oil paints of master’s. I still set back and study paintings, for hours, from historic artist such; Caravaggio, Bramer, De Hooch, Vermeer and others, including the earlier works of Rembrandt (The 1620’s decade as he seemed to change his style in later years). Vermeer and De Hooch are the best, IMO, for the study of light and lighting effects. Even though these are paintings, it is very apparent that they performed extensive studies of shading as well as lighting effects. This posted painting is one that Pieter De Hooch painted back around 1658. I feel that it is, and use it often, as a perfect illustration for the study of today’s photography disciplines in composition and lighting.
There is no such thing as having an “eye” or not having one.
We all have eyes that perform the physical act of seeing and a “Mind’s Eye” that interprets what we see and forms our perception of it.
General aesthetics, such as composition and the use of light, can be learned – by anyone. Being receptive to the emotional stimulus of a scene or object is easier for some than others, but everyone has this ability. This is what makes or breaks an image – how your finished product makes other feel about it, and others can’t feel anything that you, yourself didn’t feel when you experienced and captured it.
There is more information in an article I wrote here:
http://www.naturephotographers.net/articles0608/rb0608-1.html
My suggestion is to start with something you feel familar and comfortable. get to know your subjects, to know the sports, and to know your camera. Also, you might want to see more photographer’s works to build up your confidence. You may discover your unique style! There are no such “bad” photos… only “wrong” photos that have been expressed in a wrong way.
I remember a story about Picasso~ a Mom claimed her son’s doddles are just as good as Picasso’s painting… Piscasso replied, in some circumstance he  agree. Â
Tim, there is so much useful information here.
How you feel is how I feel about my landscape photography. I am never able to capture completely what I feel and appreciate in most scenes. Only snippets of it. Mostly because I’m a click and run dude. I don’t usually have a tripod handy and the luxury of time for composition and slow shutter speeds.
However, I feel my portrait skills often pick up meaningful details in a photo I never saw when I took the picture. And I love eyes.
If you are unsatisfied with one type of photo try honing in on another within your reach. Portrait photos (closeups) in appealing natural light may be easier for you than wide angle scenes. Experiment with the direction of light as Ben noted and don’t be afraid of backlighting as well. You have to experiment and try those things you think will never work. You stumble upon good techniques that way.
I’m no photo genius nor professional, but I’ve been playing around with a camera for my own satisfaction since my folks stuck a Kodak Brownie Bullet in my hand at the age of six. I spent a lot time as a child in the Toledo Museum of Art looking at the very painting styles Ben noted. [Dutch miniatures were my favorite, Ben.] Lighting (photos=light, graphe=writing) is everything in photography. So be patient and take satisfaction in the pursuit.
As for techniques. I didn’t take journalism in high school, nor photography in college. But I later gained a father-in-law with a dark room setup and played with technique on my own. Everybody can do that now with digital. Last year I bought and read the text book Photography (London, Stone, Upton, 9th edition). Buy it or borrow it from the library/interlibrary loan. It will give you the technical info you need as well as inspire you with good examples.
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