Comments on: The Photographic “Eye”: Innate or Learned?

By: Lorri Dailey

Lorri Dailey — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:41:25 +0000

You say in the article to send you a picture. Could you please tell me how I may do that?

By: Annabel Lee

Annabel Lee — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 08:41:43 +0000

Wow! Impressive. May I see that picture? :)

By: Feroze

Feroze — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 17:59:37 +0000

I think that anyone can learn how to take technically decent photos, right exposure, composition etc. But to take artisticlly beautiful photos is just something inside you that other people don’t have. I could teach you how to use photoshop, but it doesn’t mean you’ll ever create anything worthwhile.

By: Travel Photography

Travel Photography — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:05:37 +0000

Certainly, not feeling with an “eye” can be pretty frustrating. I’ve been in there a lot of time, and you always feel like you will never reach a good quality point. But now I see that my photography is way better than before. And that’s been possible after lot os training and, over all, making lots of photographs.

By: karl

karl — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:46:20 +0000

For me it is taking time to look at yourself and developing your own style. Sure get ideas from the vast array of resources but nothing (and I mean nothing), beats that feeling when you know you have pushed yourself.

Rgds

Karl.

By: Jared Earle

Jared Earle — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:27:39 +0000

Not everyone who learns to paint will become Picasso, but you don’t know how good you are until you learn the basics. Digital photography has given millions of people the chance to get their thousand bad photos out of their system a lot quicker than film would have let them, and reading a few of the many basic tutorials on the internet will let people take the next step.

The average quality of photos has increased incredibly since the digital revolution, and that can only be a good thing.

So, imagine how poor an artist Picasso would have been had he never learned to paint and now imagine how many gifted photographers get a chance to discover and realise their talents. In my opinion, we’re in the early days of a golden age.

By: Cherie Hanson

Cherie Hanson — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:25:25 +0000

Being a great photographer is mostly about knowing yourself. When an image stirs your soul and you feel an intense connectedness, then you have “your story.” Every photographer creates an essay about his or her own cosmology. What color is the sky in your universe means knowing what reverberates for you. Capture that image. You have your story. You have a moment of truth.

By: Andrew W Morse

Andrew W Morse — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:34:13 +0000

I once met a Polish woman who had a ‘natural’ aesthetic viewpoint. In London, she had climbed a fence into a condemned building, and walked up several flights of rusty ‘iron lace’ fire escape, to take a shot. She intuitively tilted the camera progressively further down and widened the composition, until her own tanned legs and gold shoes were in the frame and beautifully complemented the peeling rusty red steel.

This woman was completely ‘untrained’ but had imagination and was quite prepared to experiment. The work she produced was stunning and I have it framed on my walls.

I have worked in film & photography for 30 years, with some brilliant image makers, and it is creating or capturing ‘magic moments’ like these (static or in motion) which brings great satisfaction.

By: Xavier

Xavier — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:54:08 +0000

I totally agree. The eye can be educated by teaching or even by self taught, there’s absolutely no doubt about that. In my school arts in Spain, teachers gave us only the tools to explore the limits of our creativity. I think only genius are innate, the rest of the humanity can learn

By: Stacy Christian

Stacy Christian — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:18:47 +0000

So I guess the question is – do you have to do it 100 times over by natural skill, or by hard work and practice?

By: Stacy Christian

Stacy Christian — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:17:35 +0000

Don’t give up!! If you have a passion for photography and really want to excel, you are bound to fail a time or two (or at least feel like you have failed) in the process. You have to be in a constant state of self critique – always finding ways to improve, then mastering them.

Feel free to email me at stacy (at) fuelyourphotography dot com.

By: Charles Roberds

Charles Roberds — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:24:34 +0000

I had a photography teacher tell me that anyone can take a great photograph once but what makes a real photographer and take that success of that photograph and repeat it 100 times and then your a photographer and then you have to keep doing it over and over. Or something like that.

By: Carolina

Carolina — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:08:20 +0000

I think this just might be something I needed to read at this point in my life. I am really starting to wonder if I have what it takes to create work that is not only valued on a technical level but on an emotional level. I am not sure if it is my work or lack of knowledge of self promotion, but lack of career momentum is starting my mind questioning.

I guess I need to just keep trying, learning, and growing. Though, I would appreciate genuine feedback as well ;)

By: Stacy Christian

Stacy Christian — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:55:22 +0000

I feel as though art/creativity is something that can be taught. You see a great photograph, and you don’t know who took it, or how easily it came to that person. All you see is the end result. Whether that person who took the picture was their first one ever, or it was someone who had taken years and years to get to that point, it’s still the same photograph. They both would be considered to have an eye for photography.

When I decided I wanted to really know photography, I surrounded myself with it. I read about it, looked at hundreds and hundreds of pictures, took classes, etc. I think with the right teacher/mentor, anyone can learn how to consistently create visual narratives and be a successful, legit, photographer.

By: Ryan O. Hicks

Ryan O. Hicks — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:11:03 +0000

Everyone has a great photograph in them, but not everyone can be a great photographer. Creating a visual narrative, consistently, is the gift that photographers have and what the term “photographer’s eye” is coined around.

I think it is something not everyone has in them or can learn. Photography may not have been your strong point during those “crap” photos, but there was something in them that naturally caught attention to someone. You took the positive comment and decided to pursue a career path with a positive attitude and this bettered your “photographer’s eye”.

I’ve been shooting for roughly 7 or 8 years and only last year did I find out i had photography in my genes. I learned some of my elders in my family were photographers and i have a uncle that still uses film. So yes i believe that it is kind of built into an individual. But like anything in this world with hard work and perseverance you can do what you want and if someone wants to take this career path then it can be learned. Having an artistic eye and being creative is something you can not teach though.