1. VISUALISATION - 15 August 2008

Is a technique enabling you to fully understand what you are trying to achieve and what you want your image to look like before you take the shot.

We Pre-visualise the final image before we press the shutter! This is normally done before we set up our gear and on occasions before we even arrive at the location.

To be able to do this effectively we have to know our equipment and the location very well. We need to know how a certain lens will give different results; perspective, depth of field, angle of view etc. What effect will it have on the image if we move closer or perhaps further away? What can we capture if we move to one side? How can we change the look of the image by shooting earlier or later in the day? What time of year? Will a slow shutter speed convey movement - (moving water, clouds, animals)? What basic composition will be most effective and can we change the feel of the image with Fill Flash?

During Civil Twilight - Helton Fell (Far Eastern Fells)
I used one SB800 Flash to add detail to the foreground

The ability to pre-visualise an image takes a long time to learn; it is a subliminal and gradual process that can, never the less, be learnt. Analyse your images carefully, compare different strategies and soon you will be able to “see” before you shoot.

Kimon Nicolaides wrote in The Natural Way to Draw : "Learning to draw is really a matter of learning to see correctly and that means a good deal more than merely looking with the eye." Author Betty Edwards in her book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, links creativity and seeing with a very interesting scientific concept. She identifies the cognitive difference between the left and the right side of the brain and applies it to art. By allowing the usually subordinate right side of the brain to take over, we can change to a mode that can imagine realities, "we understand metaphors, we dream, we create new combinations of ideas". The right hemisphere is the part of the brain responsible for imagination, visualisation, perceptual or spatial skills, creativity, intuition, inventiveness. The best pictures focus on simple and uncomplicated ideas. The key to successful photography is making the effort to really look. Photography as an art form can benefit from this knowledge.

Pre-visualization is almost a requirement to create good images consistently. Without it, you are basically shooting without a blueprint. An architect will always prepare plans before the building work starts. So should you.

Nick.