Developing your Eye

Developing your eye as a photographer is extremely important. Even if you have been taking photographs for a while now a few exercises can help you improve. Having a photographer’s eye means a few things: being aware of your environment, visualizing the image in your mind, and noticing potential for a composition before the opportunity passes. In this article I will talk about a few good practices for developing your photographer’s eye and why they can help improve your photography.

PATTERNS

One exercise that is fairly common is photographing patterns around you. While this exercise probably won’t produce fantastic shots you’ll want to publish or the exercise itself may even sound boring, it can actually be really fun and helpful to produce even better work later.

Why is photographing patterns helpful?

Photographing patterns is helpful because you’re practicing composition and training yourself to notice small details that normally go unnoticed. Some patterns can seem obvious, like patterns on a blanket or quilt, but some may not be so obvious. For example a staircase going from left to right in a parking garage or the way a lamppost holds its bulbs. This exercise is more about finding patterns in ways that you may not have noticed before and is very helpful in seeing things in a new way.

CONSUME PHOTOGRAPHY MEDIA

Another way to develop your eye as a photographer is to look at your favorite artist’s and other peoples’ work, and seriously ask yourself what you like and/or dislike about their work as a whole (their body of work) and as singular pieces. I have found this to be very helpful and it provides a good source for inspiration in my own work. Using sources like Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr, and magazines can really give you sources of inspiration and an idea of how a good photo is composed and edited. Part of getting better at photography is consuming other peoples’ work. (I highly suggest Flickr, the images posted there often have the settings of the camera in the post automatically). 

Shameless plug for my Flickr with camera settings: https://www.flickr.com/photos/187287546@N02/

Join a constructive criticism group on social media! Critique groups are especially useful for improving your photography. This not only allows you to get advice on your own work but you can also benefit from reading criticism of everyone else’s photos.

TAKE VISUAL NOTES

Taking visual notes is also a good way to develop your photographic eye. Visual notes are pictures or snapshots that you found interesting in the moment. This could be an instance of interesting lighting with good contrast, but not much of a subject to really make it a great photo. In a digital age there is almost no reason to take these notes and assess what you liked about what you saw. Perhaps it’s a location in the city where that lighting will occur almost everyday. Taking that visual note could remind you of that location where you can then look for a subject. An example of a visual note:

This picture likely won’t win any awards or be featured anywhere other than this site, but it is a visual note of a night in Japan. Now why is this helpful to improving at photography? This practice helps raise awareness of the environment around you. Increased awareness helps find more interesting lighting and subjects. This practice can also help anticipate favorable photo conditions. It is all about raising awareness of your environment.

ANALYZE OTHERS’ WORK

One exercise that may divide a lot of people is taking deep inspiration from other peoples’ work. When I suggest taking inspiration from other peoples’ work I only mean to take it as far as practice, and over time you will develop your own style.

Taking inspiration from other peoples’ work and analyzing it is good practice because it informs you as to how the piece was shot. Was the shot taken low to the ground? Was the camera angled up or down? How far away was the photographer? Were they zoomed in or were they close to their subject? While doing this exercise it’s important to ask yourself “What did the photographer do to get this shot? What am I doing differently? How can I improve this photo?” Once you have tried to recreate someone else’s work, manifest your own vision! The other photographer already captured their vision and you recreated it, and while it may look impressive, it isn’t your personal vision for the subject. Use what you learned to help convey what you have in mind.

Much like other artforms, making use of reference to understand your own shots can help ensure success.

Now let’s practice a little bit. Below is one of my own images and I’d like you to try and figure out how this shot was taken.

Was I  far away or close to the subject?

Was I zoomed in? What focal length do you think I used?

What was the shutter speed?

Was the camera low to the ground, high up, or chest level?

If you enjoyed this content, feel free to comment below and share with your friends! It will really help me grow and produce more content.

Thank you.