Assessing Contrast - The Squint Technique
Here’s a surprising little tip that a pro once shared with me when thinking about contrast in images. It’s not really conventional but it works!
When setting up an image to shoot you can assess the contrast levels in a scene and see how the camera will ’see’ it by squinting.
More specifically - close one of your eyes completely and then squint with the other.
With eyes wide open we’re able to take in a lot of visual information from a scene - more than even the best camera is able to process but what you’re doing by squinting is reducing the range of what you’re seeing and are leaving yourself with the highlights and shadows (ie you’re taking out a lot of the mid-tones).
Give it a try - you might look a little silly (probably not as silly as the guy in this shot) - but it might just help you improve your images a touch too!
Read more posts like 'Assessing Contrast - The Squint Technique'
Digital Photography School is Digg proof thanks to caching by WP Super Cache!
I found this technique incredibly helpful when I was doing black and white (film!) photography…
Galen Rowell recommends the same technique in one of his books, but in a different context - it allows you to concentrate on shapes rather than colors, and helps you compose better. An alternative is to stop down the lens and use the DOF preview button - I believe that I read that on Thom Hogan’s site.
Coloured filters (in your pocket or on the lens or on your glasses) can help you visualise the world of black and white too…
wow, fascinating! Thank you :)
I hope I don’t look like that when I squint!
So once you check out the contrast by squinting what do you do next. ie how do you improve the photo that your taking?
My art teacher used to have me do that, back in high school. I helped me contrast, and made me draw better.
Good Idea. When I ask my students to do the same, I have them squint at a scene that has a lot of snow and then they do the same with a street scene during the summer. After the students have performed each task they have a better understanding of contrast and what to look for. The photos can be B&W or color.
Very Interesting! I always wanted to look like squint eastwood and my gun would be the 70-200mm…hehehe..cm’on make my day!
thanks for the tip.