I Need to know if I'm Shooting Right ?
- Thread starter pk63015
- Start date
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
You should be able to just close your left eye if leaving it open bothers you.
pk63015, I think you're getting crazy answers because most posters assume you have the ability to just close your eye. Maybe you can't and therefore need to use your hand or a eye-patch. I suggest keeping both hands on the camera for stability. Maybe shedding some light on why just closing your left eye isn't an option would help too.
I think we all have a predominant eye. I don't remember how to test for this, but I remember doing something to that effect when I started archery. I know that I have to use my left eye in the viewfinder. Whenever I try to use my right eye, I just don't feel comfortable and it doesn't feel right to me. I have no clue as to why this is, but that's the way it is for me.
Pick a small object across the room you are in. Focus your gaze on the object. Now with your dominant hand place your thumb over the object hiding it. Now with both eyes open focus on your thumb. Now close one eye. If you see your thumb and not the object....that's your dominant eye.
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As to not being able to close your non dominant eye when "targeting" something....my girlfriend can't either. So don't feel alone. Easy answer is adjust to shooting both eyes open. Besides my feeling that in street photography its somewhat safer...i find tracking moving items to be much easier.
An eye patch would work....but seems a little sluggish to move into position. And if you happen to forget it or something happens to it...what would you do? You still would have a perfectly functioning camera....but have a mental block on taking photos.
Just my .02
An eye patch would work....but seems a little sluggish to move into position. And if you happen to forget it or something happens to it...what would you do? You still would have a perfectly functioning camera....but have a mental block on taking photos.
Just my .02
I don't see in 3D so my vision is different than many others here. Although I can see out of both eyes, my brain doesn't blend the images from both eyes as it normally does for most people. Instead, it blocks the images from my right eye--at least it used to until I had eye surgery. There is a little blend of the images, but predominantly all I see with is my left eye.
When I shoot, my right eye is the one I use to look through the viewfinder. Most times I close my left eye when doing so. For people who are transitioning from cameras that only offer viewing an LCD screen, looking through a viewfinder is quite different. Hope you are able to get this worked out comfortably!
When I shoot, my right eye is the one I use to look through the viewfinder. Most times I close my left eye when doing so. For people who are transitioning from cameras that only offer viewing an LCD screen, looking through a viewfinder is quite different. Hope you are able to get this worked out comfortably!
Vixen
Senior Member
Hello, fellow archer! To find your dominant eye you point your finger at some distinct object far away. Keep your finger not very far from your face (1-2 feet), do not extend your arm. Point quickly, without thinking. Now, keep your finger where you pointed it and close one eye at a time. You will notice that you point exactly at the subject with one eye (it is right in my case) and off-target with the other eye. The eye that shows you your finger at the target is your dominant eye. Repeat this test a few times to make sure you got it right.
I'd suggest to use your dominant eye to look through the viewfinder.
When I shoot my bow, I keep both eyes open. I look through the sight with my dominant (right) eye and ignore the other (left) eye. However, in photography I find it somehow difficult, so I look with my right eye and shut the left one.
Edit: Deezey sent a similar answer when I was writing mine...
To check which eye is dominant, hold both hands straight out in front of you and make a triangle hole using your hands with the thumbs and index finger touching. If the hole is to big just overlap the hands making the hole as small as you want. While doing this focus on something in the distant while looking through the hole. Only one eye will be able to focus on an object. The eye you naturally use is your dominant eye. I'm left eye dominant and I do close the other while shooting.
I don't think it matters much for a cam what eye you use since what's in the viewfinder, is in the viewfinder. You don't need to be a sniper.
I use my other eye simply because my nose gets in the way when using my dominant. I can't recall having had that problem in the past and I'm pretty certain my nose didn't grow.
I use my other eye simply because my nose gets in the way when using my dominant. I can't recall having had that problem in the past and I'm pretty certain my nose didn't grow.
This has been an amusing and interesting read. I have now determined that my eyes are ambidextrous. I shoot rifles with my right due to the logical proximity of my eyeball to the rifle stock. With my camera I shoot left eye due to trying to fit my nose between the camera and my face. Send to fit best for me that way.
If you think about it, cameras were not well designed for the human face with this nose feature protruding.
If you think about it, cameras were not well designed for the human face with this nose feature protruding.
What is advantageous is keeping both eyes open. It is not as if you can see clearly with both since you need to focus your attention to the other eye to see detail but since vision is processed in different parts of the brain, even while having all attention in the viewfinder, any movement outside of it will be caught by the other eye. Not until you'll redirect your attention you'll clearly see what is moving.
This is why some blind people can still see movement.
For animal photography this technique pays.
This is why some blind people can still see movement.
For animal photography this technique pays.