Don't Look with Your Eyes, Look Through Your Lens

Wednesday 27 April 2022, 14:28 by Frank Doorhof | 4,247 views | 6 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

You probably know the feeling. The perfect location, you are completely impressed and you take your photo. You are sure it will win every prize because what an incredibly beautiful scene.

And then you get home and search yourself silly for that fantastic photo, and the only one you can find from that location is... well, let's keep it polite, not really impressive.

How does that happen?

Our eyes work very differently from a camera lens. People sometimes say that a 50mm lens emulates the human eye, but in my view that is complete nonsense.

Our eyes can switch between zooming in and zooming out in the blink of an eye. Just look at a scene and suddenly you see a tree that really stands out.

Without you noticing, your brain creates a kind of 'frame/zoom' around that tree, which makes you focus on it even more. A lens can never capture that.

As well as visual input, smell, sound and your state of mind also play a part.

A situation in which you are completely impressed by, for example, a waterfall. The roar of the water, the spray on your face and the smell of cold, moving water, combined with the smell of the forest and the light rain that is on its way, all contribute to your experience.

Go to a waterfall feeling depressed, and then go there feeling very happy. You experience exactly the same thing, but completely differently.

So how can you capture this properly with a camera?

In itself, 'simple' (but don't be fooled, this is incredibly difficult). You must not look with your eyes, but with the lens.

So hold the camera in front of your eyes and look at the scene that way for a LONG time. You will often soon see that your viewpoint is not interesting at all. But lie down on the ground, or use an extreme wide-angle lens or a really long lens, and you get a completely different image.

For me, a good landscape is a photo that takes me there. Strangely enough, these are almost never photos taken from eye level with a 50mm lens. Even though that is normally how you experience it.

So, look for the angles and photograph with your lens, not from your human viewpoint.

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About the author

Frank Doorhof blogt dagelijks in het Engels op zijn website en geeft wekelijks workshops model fotografie in zijn studio in Emmeloord, maar ook op locatie in binnen en buitenland. Van beginners tot gevorderde, iedereen kan bij Frank terecht. Ook voor specifieke 1 op 1 workshops, of maatwerk voor groepen.

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6 comments

Jacqueline Boekelman wrote on Tuesday 3 May 2022 at 12:40 | reply
Dat klopt wat je stelt , ik verbaas me daar steeds weer over hoe de foto zo’n teleurstelling kan zijn ten opzichte van wat je ziet met je ogen maar hoe jij het uitlegt over de lens mij dan weer uitdaagt om opnieuw het wiel voor mezelf uit te vinden want ik had eigenlijk gesteld al dat onze ogen nooit zo mooi een foto kunnen weergeven en deels zeg je dat ook , je moet gewoon leren vinden , kijken en zoeken in je / de lens naar exact zo’n beleving op foto , een antwoord waar ik heel blij van word want ik ga het doen , leren kijken met mijn lens ipv mijn ogen , dank !
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Ernst wrote on Tuesday 3 May 2022 at 13:00 | reply
Ik kijk altijd eerst om mij heen om de omgeving in mij op te nemen en probeer van de omgeving te genieten. Pas dan pak ik mijn camera. Zodra je begint met fotograferen moet je de rust nemen om wat jij mooi vindt te isoleren met jouw kamera door door de lens te kijken en er goed op te letten dat de horizon recht is . Ik prefereer zelf (extreme) groothoek maar met een telelens kun je ook interessante landschapsfoto's maken.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

frank doorhof wrote on Tuesday 3 May 2022 at 13:40 | reply
@Ernst
Eerst om je heen kijken is super belangrijk, de eerste WOW is er dan af en je hebt veel meer rust om ook de juiste elementen te kiezen.

Qua tele of wide ben ik van mening dat het verschilt per onderwerp, een treinstation op 12mm kan geniaal zijn, een landschap kan gaaf zijn met 12mm maar ook 400mm, het is gewoon de keuze van de fotograaf :D
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

frank doorhof wrote on Tuesday 3 May 2022 at 13:42 | reply
@Jacqueline
Wat ik soms doe met cursisten is ze de opdracht geven om een week alleen maar met een polaroid te schieten, elke foto kost geld en elke foto betekend een polaroid minder. Dus je gaat echt nadenken over de foto, je zal snel merken dat je VEEL minder schiet maar VEEL betere foto's maakt.
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

Robert wrote on Tuesday 3 May 2022 at 15:39 | reply
Hoi Frank een ieder kijkt met andere ogen en beleefd de situatie op dat moment anders. Gelukkig maar. Dan komen er mooie dingen naar boven die jouw sieren. Het zijn jou herinneringen er aan op dat moment. Snel ,kort geschoten mwah jou indruk. Top.

Robert
This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

frank doorhof wrote on Tuesday 3 May 2022 at 16:28 | reply
@robert
Op zich mee eens dat iedereen het anders ziet, absoluut.

Waar het artikel op gebaseerd is is het feit dat het heel vaak voorkomt dat je thuis komt met foto's die juist NIET vangen wat je gezien hebt omdat je probeert met een lens te vangen wat je ogen zien

This comment was written in another language and has not been translated yet.

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