What Caught Your Eye?

Thanks for the great response to my article about using a tripod. After my newsletter went out last week, I had a few people ask me what sorts of things I think about when I’m taking the time to set up my tripod. One of the main things I think about is what caught my eye? Or another way of looking at it is – why did I stop in this particular spot to take a photo – rather than 3 feet to the left or say 6 feet to the right? Something caught my and made me want to take a photo. While I’m setting up my tripod, I’m figuring out what that is – so I can take the photo I’m seeing in my mind.

Over the years, I’ve realized that there are several things that catch my eye and make me want to stop and take a photo.

Sometimes it’s a single perfect flower

Other times it’s a combination of flowers

 

Or it could be several of the same flower

 

Sometimes it’s a single color – like the shades of blue in these blue hydrangeas

 

Or it could be  a combination of colors – like the purple and yellows in the wildflowers

 

Sometime it’s the details – like the center of a sunflower

Or it can be the whole scene in front of me

Sometime it’s a line

And sometimes it’s just something unexpected

So when you’re out photographing – be sure to take a moment to think about what caught your eye. It will help you create the photos you want to create.

Identifying what caught your eye and deciding how to capture that in your photo is one of the things we talk about in my workshops – including in my July 15-17 Photographing Flowers (Without Swearing at Your Camera) workshop. I’d love to have you join me for the workshop. You can find all the information about the workshop on my website.