How to Train your Photographic Eye to See Creatively

There are photographs that even to the untrained eye are mesmerizing. It does not take a genius or a photographic aficionado to discern that there is something appealing and deeply truthful contained in the image. The untrained eye may not instantly be able to quantify what makes a photograph great, but they can see that the picture shows something more than that which is merely obvious.

The photographer should study the composition of the photographs they like. This is good general advice for learning basically any kind of art form. The student must first understand what they like about their favorite examples of their chosen art.

Layers and Photographic Composition

Look at the layers. On the face of it, the subject is literal. A beach is simply a beach, the face of a child is simply that, and this is how most people take pictures. They simply point their camera at a subject and click. Sometimes the pictures work, but mostly they are just flat pictures showing the subject, with no particular thought given to composition. One of the more difficult things for the photographer to learn is to find the perspective that lies beyond what is immediately obvious. If a subject has layers, then it is the photographer’s job to find and reveal them to the viewer. In some cases, the photographer may not want to capture the entirety of the subject, but only one single aspect of many possible ones.

Photo by Mikebaird

Finding the Beauty

For the most part, people like looking at pretty pictures. A pretty flower, for instance, will have people admiring it and many photographers go out of their way to cater to this. In many cases they may even believe that a part of their job is to exaggerate the beauty of an object in the editing process after the picture has been taken. Having a keen photographic eye, however, means being able to find the beauty in unconventional subjects and capture it in a picture.

Aspect Ratio

Learn to see things as the camera sees them, or as they may be displayed in a photograph. The photographer will be composing the photograph within a frame with the 4:3 format commonly used by the average digital camera. Capturing the subject within this space is the goal of the photographer. The keen, well-trained photographic eye is able to fit the subject within that space.

Planning and Intent

The trained photographic eye will have to be able, in some circumstances, to be able to capture fast-moving events as they occur. This means that not only will they have to be in the right place ahead of time for the perfect shot, they will also have to be able to anticipate the good picture. This element of photographic composition takes practice. This also means that they will need the knowledge and experience necessary to assess a location, and to be able to control the circumstances under which the shot is taken.

Developing the keen photographic eye is a talent, and like any talent, it can be learned if the photographer has the desire to acquire the necessary perceptive skills and to practice.