Do you shoot with both eyes?

[Julie H]

<p>... (through a viewfinder).</p>

<p>I <em>always</em> use my right eye, but in <a href="http://unrealnature.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/wesmith_shooting.jpg">this series</a>, you can see W. Eugene* using both (one at a time ... ) [<a href="http://unrealnature.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/wesmith_shooting.jpg"><strong>LINK</strong></a>]. Do you use both/either eyes?</p>

<p>Also in the linked series, I assume that's a right-angle viewer he's using?</p>

<p>(Besides the bi-eyed shooting frames, I added two that show his sewing skills.)</p>

<p>*Smith</p>

<p> </p>

[chris_waller]

<p>For 35mm shooting I always use my left eye even though I'm right-handed. For some reason if I put the camera to my right eye it feels somehow wrong. These days I use 35mm less and less because I'm long-sighted and can't focus fast enough for such as street photography so I now shoot much more 120. I use mainly TLRs so I use both eyes.</p>

[ilkka_nissila]

<p>It depends. Usually I shoot with my right eye and keep the left one close to frame and focus and time the shots, but sometimes I need information about my environment and I open my left eye to get it. I don't know how exactly I process that information but it tells me if someone is approaching the field of view of my camera etc. Also lets me be aware of possible conflict with other pedestrians on the street. But usually I think I keep my left eye closed and am focused on the subject.</p>

[William Kahn]

<p>I shoot with my right eye on the viewfinder because that helps me concentrate on composing the scene without distraction...</p>

[keith reeder]

<p>I used to shoot right-eyed, but after developing a retinal bleeding problem in that eye which significantly distorts what I see through it, I've had to adapt to using my left, even though it's nominally my weaker eye.</p>

<p>Not that hard to do <em>if you have to.</em></p>

[thomas_k.]

<p>Do you think it matters? I like shooting with medium format TLR cameras - I look with both eyes at flat focusing screen, but so do all camera phone users.</p>

[James G. Dainis]

I keep both eyes open when using flash so I can see that the flash popped but I look through the viewfinder with the left eye. I am left eye dominant so to use my right eye feels awkward.

 

To learn if you are left or right eye dominant, point your finger at something with both eyes open. Then alternately open and close each eye. Whichever eye is open when the finger is pointed directly at the object is the dominant eye.

[sarah_fox]

<p>I find it annoying to have both eyes open, but sometimes I will do it if I need to keep an eye out (so to speak) for things happening outside the frame. A flash pop is a good example. Traffic might be another, if photographing something while standing in a roadway. But it's still annoying.</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>Right handed, right-eye dominant but look through a viewfinder with my left simply because I see much better with that eye and its become a habit. My nose has rubbed a big mark on the rear screen of my Canon 5Dii- enough to consider shooting this way round as a disadvantage. Actually my preference is to shoot Live View from a tripod using both eyes, but it doesn't always work out like that.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>I shoot with my left eye, with my right eye closed. Because of issues dating back to childhood, my left eye is significantly dominant over my right.</p>

[keith reeder]

<blockquote>

<p>Do you think it matters?</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>We're not discussing it because it "matters". We're having a casual, photography-related conversation <em>in the <strong>Casual Photo Conversations </strong></em>forum.</p>

[Gup]

<p>I view with my right eye, but try to keep my left open when possible. I think it's because I'm always paranoid about whether my flashes fired or not. When tripod mounted I use a remote release so it isn't a problem then. I guess I shut my left when I want to review information in the viewfinder, too. Easier to process it.</p>

[William Kahn]

<p>Being right-eye dominant is kind of ironic for me because, after cataract surgery, my left eye vision is back to 20-20 and my right eye vision still sucks. Anyway, I keep both eyes open because that's the way I learned to shoot, well, other things, a long time ago. Sarah is right about the advantage of that, being able to watch for flying bird poop, deranged cats, and the not-smiling guy on who's property I'm trespassing... ;-)</p>

<p>By the way, David, I solved the nose vs. LCD screen problem a while back with a Delkin Devices folding hood which covers the screen, and provides a light shade when you need to chimp.</p>

[david_henderson]

<p>William. I'm glad you solved it , but you're talking prevention and I'm afraid I need a cure!</p>

[marklcooper]

<p>I'm right handed and left eye dominant. I shoot with my left eye to the viewfinder and my right eye closed.</p>

<p>This is more than the OP asked, but when hunting with a scoped rifle or shotgun I'm pretty sure my right eye is to the scope with the left eye open to make sure nothing else is entering the target area. It's just too awkward to get my left eye to the scope with my right hand holding the stock. I'd go check this out for sure, but I'd probably end up in jail if I got my rifle out of my Blazer in the employee parking lot<g>.</p>

[David_Cavan]

<p>I shoot with my left eye on the VF, but keep the right eye open. After a long session shooting a few years ago I found that my right eye was sore from squeezing it shut (seriously) and I tried shooting the next day with it open. I found it helps me keeping my balance, and it does make me more aware of what's going on around me.</p>

<p>Also, I've stopped pushing my eye right up tight to the viewfinder - I don't have to squeeze the camera against my face tightly especially if it's on a tripod. And again that allows me to know what's going on elsewhere.</p>

[stp]

<p>I usually shoot with my right eye, but I often keep my left eye open just to be aware of what's happening outside the frame. However, I try to get the best composition I can within the viewfinder, and when looking closely at all of the elements in the viewfinder, I close my left eye to concentrate more fully on the viewfinder.</p>

[J.W. Wall]

<p>I shoot with my right eye, using the open left eye on occasion.<br>

Mark L. Cooper -- Not sure, but if you try shooting that rifle with the butt on your right shoulder and your left eye to the scope, your chin may not thank you for the recoil effects.</p>

[marklcooper]

<p>J.W. - thass what I'm sayin<g>. Not too much (not any, really) kick with the .17 HMR, but the 12 gauge....now we're talking some kick. Sighting in the 12 before deer season every year is NOT fun.</p>

[SCL]

<p>I shoot with my right eye, because that is the way I learned, and after many years my left eye has developed a rather large central blind spot which isn't surgically correctable.</p>

[jim_j2]

Right handed and left eye dominant but,

most of the time I have both eyes open

with the left eye to the viewfinder.

 

Like Matt I think it was, my Delkin

device gets all nose smudge and wear.

[Matthew Currie]

<p>I used to be left eye dominant until an accident that squished my trochlear nerve messed up my eye dominance, whereupon my brain switched to right, so now I shoot right eyed most of the time. It's hard to use both eyes unless the camera is just right, but for a neat experience (if your vision is still binoular) you can put a 50 millimeter lens on a Minolta manual camera, and when using the left eye for viewing, leave the right eye open. The images are so well matched that it appears one is using a transparent camera. The same effect seems to occur around 70 on many Nikons.</p>

[keith reeder]

<blockquote>

<p> After a long session shooting a few years ago I found that my right eye was sore from squeezing it shut (seriously) and I tried shooting the next day with it open. I found it helps me keeping my balance, and it does make me more aware of what's going on around me.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Same here, David, although I have to <em>remember</em> to open t'other eye - which I usually do just after the headache starts..!</p>

[stefan_laarm]

<p>I keep one eye open most of the time and when composition is the most important. I keep both eyes open when the moment is key to the photo<br>

Stefan</p>

[nico_morris]

<p>Would have thought that camera ergonomics dictate you use the right eye in preference so that you can maximise the use of the left at the same time for situational awareness. Useful for tracking subjects to keep both eyes open.</p>