About "reading" a foto

[Ivophoto]

Quoting Kenneth Clark:
 "First I see the picture as a whole, and long before I can recognize the subject I am conscious of a general impression, which depends on the relationship of tone and area, shape (and colour)" - [Brackets are mine]

I am not in the position of discussing the left/right brain theory.

The book of Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain discusses the subject and is very understandable.

Like Relativity, also a theory, it works.
That's what counts


If you look something upside down you PERCEIVE  things differently
Instead of seeing: “mountain, lake, tree, clouds..." you see lines and forms.

This could help to discover imbalances and to see positive and negative spaces more easily.

If in doubt, as was here the case, you just invert the image in Photoshop (Image/Image Rotation/180°) or whatever and take a look. If it helps, great. If it doesn't, nothing is lost 

Just trying to help.

Correct.

[rabanito]

Maybe this could be of interest?

http://www.drawright.com/theory/

[faberryman]

If in doubt, as was here the case, you just invert the image in Photoshop (Image/Image Rotation/180°) or whatever and take a look. If it helps, great. If it doesn't, nothing is lost 

It's a little late by then.

[rabanito]

It's a little late by then.

It depends.
In this case we were presented with a picture which could or not be improved.
It can be changed. For better or worse.

A little cropping, a little lightening here or there can work miracles on a photograph.
The picture presented is B&W. You never get to see this in nature, you manipulate tones.
And the proportions of any picture are not written in granite.
You use what your camera offers and then you see what is better for your picture.
The world is not in 24x36 , 4x5 or else

[KLaban]

As a painter I always had a mirror in the studio to enable me to see the work reversed. I've never understood why it helped but help it did.

[Alan Klein]

I could see it working on BW photography of landscapes where you're shooting shapes.  Less so for portraits and street shots where emotion and people feelings are more important. 

[Ivophoto]

I could see it working on BW photography of landscapes where you're shooting shapes.  Less so for portraits and street shots where emotion and people feelings are more important.

Check the opening topic. !surprise, it’s a landscape!

[Alan Klein]

As a painter I always had a mirror in the studio to enable me to see the work reversed. I've never understood why it helped but help it did.

But reversed isn't upside down. 

[Alan Klein]

It’s not about looking upside down at the taking, it’s about looking at a print without mental projection. Exactly to get rid of that compelling, and misleading, aspect when you have to assess your own work.

But if you're shooting LF camera, everything is upside down at the time of taking.  Since I don;t shoot LF, I'm just curious.  Some LF photographers claim that it's easier to see forms and shapes when shooting.  However, is it harder to see the "compelling" content aspects of the picture since it is the other side of the brain that see these things that is being deprived?

[faberryman]

But if you're shooting LF camera, everything is upside down at the time of taking.  Since I don;t shoot LF, I'm just curious.  Some LF photographers claim that it's easier to see forms and shapes when shooting.  However, is it harder to see the "compelling" content aspects of the picture since it is the other side of the brain that see these things that is being deprived?

I don't know which side of the brain is doing what, but, like anything else, with practice you get used to viewing the world upside down. It's like shooting 6x6 where you have to become accustomed to moving the camera the opposite direction side to side.

[Alan Klein]

I don't know which side of the brain is doing what, but, like anything else, with practice you get used to viewing the world upside down. It's like shooting 6x6 where you have to become accustomed to moving the camera the opposite direction side to side.

I have a Mamiya 6x7.  When I got it, I couldn't get use to the waist level finder where everything was reversed.  Drove me nuts.  So I replaced it with an eye level finder so everything moves in the same direction.  I'll only use the waist level viewfinder if I shoot with the camera set up low to the ground like at a flower.

[KLaban]

But reversed isn't upside down.

It's strange, I found reversing the image very helpful when painting but loathed waist level finders.