Photography and the art of seeing
Making sure that you really see what is in fact right in front of you
When we consider photography and the art of seeing, it may seem blindingly obvious that photography is about capturing for all time something that we see. We see something. We like it. We pick up a camera. We point it and press the shutter button. Job done, image captured. What more could there be to see?
For many people that is probably as far as the thought – and seeing – process goes when it comes to photography. The resulting images may turn out as perfectly acceptable records of what was in front of the photographer at the time. Some of those images may even be quite well executed, but that is likely to happen more by accident than design.
Is it enough to simply record what is immediately in front of the camera? Perhaps it is for anyone in search of nothing more than straightforward, obvious records. But what if you’re looking for something more creative, images that delve into the less obvious, to tease out apparently hidden subjects and compositions?
That question brings us to the art of seeing. And by this I mean the art of seeing what is actually there in front of you, rather than what you wish were there. ‘But surely,’ you say, ‘we see only what is in front of us.’ It’s true that our eyes see exactly what is in front of us, but that visual information is then fed to our brains, and it is here that this information is in danger of being filtered, the brain removing unwelcome elements that might spoil its own enjoyment or perception of the scene it perceives.
Selective perception is the enemy
At its very simplest the mismatch between what the eyes record and what the brain perceives can take the form of ignored distracting elements creeping into the image composition. This includes such things as an overhead wire, a building-side satellite dish, a pile of litter in the bottom (ie foreground) corner. These are all things that the mind can easily filter out in its perception of a scene, but which become all too glaringly obvious in the final image.
These distracting elements almost always creep in in those parts of the image that are not the main subject. The brain has concentrated so intensely on shooting its chosen subject that it has overlooked distractions in other parts of the frame, areas that are not the main subject, often known as the ‘negative space’. I have seen more images ruined, not so much by poor choice of subject as such, but by neglect of everything else in the scene, resulting in a negative space littered with distracting, cluttering elements that draw the viewer’s eye away from the main subject and so weaken the impact of the final image.
For the painter, it has always been possible, naturally, to simply gloss over clutter in the scene, and so paint only a scene that works aesthetically. Until comparatively recently, this was a complete non-starter for the photographer. You would have to get it right in-camera, and so it was crucial to spot and approve of absolutely everything in the frame before pressing the shutter. Now, of course, digital photography allows us to remove some of these unwanted elements, but even so there is a limit to how many ‘mistakes’ can be cloned out. No amount of Photoshop and AI can turn a poorly executed image into a great one; for the time being at least! And I hope it remains so. AI should never be used as a substitute for clear thinking – dare I say mindfulness – before pressing the shutter, and hence good execution of that image.
Failure to see clearly and perceive accurately goes well beyond simply not spotting intrusive wires or fast-food wrappers in the image frame. There are many more possible examples. One pitfall that wildlife photographers, for example, frequently stumble into (me included!) is to concentrate so intensely on the animal or plant subject in the middle of the frame that your mind forgets to see the full frame. A bird in flight, for example, so completely fills the mind’s entire concsious perception while you try to frame, focus and photograph the animal, that you forget to see what becomes plainly evident in the final image – that the bird actually is just a rather small figure in the middle of the image, surrounded by a vastness of empty sky!
It’s all about the light
Then there are the effects of different kinds of light on different types of subject, perception of which can take real practice to grasp and make use of. It’s a common conception that things are best photographed in sunlight, because the world looks so much brighter under those conditions. This may work well for the human eye and brain, but is it the best way to work in photography? Your brain might tell you that your partner is most beautifully photographed in sunlight, but how’s that bright highlight reflecting off their face going to make them look in the final photo? And what about the deep dark shadow across the right side of the face caused by their nose, making it look as though they have a huge beak?
In real life the three dimensions enabled by your stereoscopic vision makes it perfectly possible to separate out those shadows and shapes. However, in the final photo all is compressed into a flat two-dimensional world, so that nose, shadow and cheek all sit in the same plane, simply creating a mix of light and dark shapes that may or may not complement one another.
Similarly, what about the bright sunlight putting both bright highlights and shadows across some beautiful white flower you’re about to photograph? It may look fine to the eye in three dimensions, but put it all together in a two-dimensional image and the beautiful flower can become an awkward mish-mash of intense burned-out highlights and deep, barely discernible shadows.
In both these examples, the art of seeing consists of really looking at how the light actually affects every part of the subject, not how the brain wishes it were. You can be sure that the camera will record exactly what is in front of it, not what you might think should be there. So in both these examples, to create genuinely flattering images you may well want to consider shooting in a way that softens those bright highlights and deep shadows. In other words, you want to reduce the contrast range across the scene. You can do that by shooting in cloudy conditions, in the shade or by ensuring that your subject is back-lit. See what is really there in order to shoot with the best kind of light for your subject.
Shape and juxtaposition
More abstract and difficult to grasp is the concept of juxtaposition of shapes, angles and light that can either result in rich, dynamic and arresting images, or flat lifeless, wholly two-dimensional records. A large part of the art of seeing comes down to recognising that what your eyes and brain see in glorious three dimensions will be reduced to a flat two-dimensional representation in your images. Your have to try to see – or at least interpret – every scene in two dimensions. The most effective images come down to a set of simple shapes arranged in the ‘best’ juxtapositions to one another, with one clear shape – the image’s main subject – dominating and in some way standing separate from everything else.
How those shapes work together – or against each other – along with the nature of the light falling on them, will largely determine whether the final image works or is a failure. We’re talking here about the combinations of such shapes as triangles, diamonds, pentagons and circles. It’s possible to reduce almost all forms of photography down to a mix of such shapes, from portraiture, to street life, to landscapes, to architecture. I often take my students to photograph boats, and in doing so I tell them that even if they have no interest in boats (and many don’t!) they should see them as a mix of a series of shapes, complete with reflections, opposites, and diagonals, that can be combined (with the right perspective and lens choice) into great compositions.
Essentially, success here can largely depend on the mind having a good sense of graphics, and an ability to perceive the world as a series of graphic scenes, with shapes, diagonal lines and curves all working together (or chaotically) to create fantastic or terrible compositions.
Looking for vignettes and cameos
Finally, there is perhaps the most critical aspect of the art of seeing: that of being able to look beyond the obvious of what is clearly right in front of you, and to delve into hidden compositions within the scene.
These are the little vignettes, cameos within a much larger scene that over 90% of the general population would never even imagine, but which a photographer must – at least at times – be able to dig out and compose into great images. When standing in front of a really famous view – say the Taj Mahal or Grand Canyon – it can be difficult to drag both your eyes and brain away from this big scene. But the photographer should always do this, digging into the scene to find little details, unexpected shapes and juxtapositions that can create something quite different. The resulting images may be great images in themselves that say nothing about the famous view that they’re a part of, or they may capture the absolute very essence of that wider view’s beauty. And it may be some aspect that no one has spotted and photographed before.
Conversely, you may find yourself standing in a scene where you can see almost nothing worth photographing in the wider view. In that situation, take your time, refocus both eyes and brain and really look at what is actually there: the details, cameos and vignettes within the scene. You’ll be amazed just how often you and your camera will be able to dig out something truly remarkable even from the dullest of larger landscapes. This is truly the core of the art of seeing.
Putting the art of seeing into practice
So next time you find yourself rather thoughtlessly snapping away at a scene, catch yourself. Stop, breathe, take your time and see what is actually there. Search for the overhead wires and rubbish bins, the awkwardly falling light, the juxtapositions of shapes within the scene and how well (or otherwise!) your main subject is going to dominate and stand out in a two-dimensional world. Then seek out the little vignettes within the larger scene that no one else has ever spotted and photographed before.
The art of seeing is utterly critical to great photography. Indeed, it lies right at its core, and goes right to the fundamentals of photographic creativity and skill. Never let technology blind you to this.
