Composing upside down

David Nebenzahl · Jun 22, 2009

Vaughn said:
Seeing an "upside-down" image as natural is very natural! In fact, that is how our brain receives the image in the first place. The basic law of optics dictates that the image thrown upon our retina by the lens of our eye must be upside down and backwards...yet we perceive it as right-side up and non-reversed. So this is an exercise our brains are quite familiar with.
Vaughn

I knew someone would bring this up.

Yes, that's the way our optical sensory system works. But it sure as hell doesn't mean that viewing a scene upside down is "natural"; the view is 180 degrees out of whack, unless one is standing on their head.

Oh, well. People like to rationalize all kinds of stuff. Who am I to stand in their way?

Shangheye · Jun 22, 2009

I just hang my pictures upside down and then they look fine

Seriously though...I don't notice it's uside down...and not even wrong way round (left and right)....I think we don't give our brains enough credit..

Kal

Steve Smith · Jun 22, 2009

JBrunner said:
Actually the human brain is very accommodating when it comes to vision and spatial direction, so an inverted image can be reconciled quite easily if it is presented enough times, or for a long enough duration.

It certainly is. I remember seeing an article about this where someone was fitted with glasses which inverted the image. After a while the brain gets used to it and it seems normal. The subject in this case found that when he removed the glasses after a few days everything was then upside down as his brain got used to it and inverted the image for him.

A similar thing happens if you watch TV whilst lying on the sofa. Although the TV image is actually rotated 90 degrees to your eye, your brain does the post processing and you think you are viewing it the right way round.

Steve.

Sirius Glass · Jun 22, 2009

Vaughn said:
Seeing an "upside-down" image as natural is very natural! In fact, that is how our brain receives the image in the first place. The basic law of optics dictates that the image thrown upon our retina by the lens of our eye must be upside down and backwards...yet we perceive it as right-side up and non-reversed. So this is an exercise our brains are quite familiar with.

It is easy, at least for me -- I did not have to work hard at all to find the upside down and backwards image to be comfortable and natural way to view the scene in front of me on the GG.

Vaughn

This has always happened for me so fast that I never think about it. I did not comment on this thread about it because I just thought it was me. As a left handed person, I learned to do left-right reversals so I could learn to do what the teacher was doing with her hands.

Steve

Vaughn · Jun 22, 2009

Well David, if you wish to be closed-minded about it, that is your choice. But I have observed otherwise. If you wish, try this experiment. Spend an hour or two on your back with your head hanging back so that the world is viewed upside down..perhaps watch TV as Steve suggests. In an hour, observe how the world seems to be orientated. Then close your eyes, sit up and see if the world looks oriented "normally" immediately after opening your eyes.

This is actually how I experienced this the first time...before I ever used a view camera. I was floating on my back on a Texas lake back in the early 70's. Of course, the above experiment might fail...your mind might be too inflexible.

Vaughn

Vaughn · Jun 25, 2009

An interesting, and I believe, related BBC article....

"The brain represents tools as extensions to the body, according to researchers writing in Current Biology."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8112873.stm

Another interesting observation -- as I work in a totally dark room, loading film, etc, I can "see" my hands at work -- that is, I can perceive their position in space. I still cannot see the objects, such as the lid to the developing tank, so it does not do me a lot of good...

Vaughn

PS...and my appologies to David...I was a bit short with him.

Usagi · Jul 28, 2009

Wirelessly posted (Samsung 2700: SAMSUNG-B2700/XBIB2 SHP/VPP/R5 NetFront/3.4 SMM-MMS/1.2.0 profile/MIDP-2.0 configuration/CLDC-1.1)

I don't really notice that image is upside down.
When i see something iteresting to photograph, i frame it just on my brains and choose the lens that i know to have same field of view.

Haven't noticed my composition any better than with prism view finders or waist level finders.
I tend to do always same mistakes by composing too much by the old rules like a golden ratio (is it right term in english?).

Sirius Glass · Jul 28, 2009

Usagi said:
Wirelessly posted (Samsung 2700: SAMSUNG-B2700/XBIB2 SHP/VPP/R5 NetFront/3.4 SMM-MMS/1.2.0 profile/MIDP-2.0 configuration/CLDC-1.1)

I don't really notice that image is upside down.
When i see something iteresting to photograph, i frame it just on my brains and choose the lens that i know to have same field of view.

Haven't noticed my composition any better than with prism view finders or waist level finders.
I tend to do always same mistakes by composing too much by the old rules like a golden ratio (is it right term in english?).

I think that you mean the rule of thirds.

Steve

2F/2F · Jul 28, 2009

I though it was the two-fifths rule.

Weird: In photo classes, I have learned it as the "rule of thirds", while in art history classes, I learned "the golden proportion as "the two-fifths rule".

Ah, fergit the rules. You own the mofo, so you make your own rules.

Sirius Glass · Jul 28, 2009

2F/2F said:
I though it was the two-fifths rule.

Ah, fergit the rules. You own the mofo, so you make your own rules.

Your own rules work the best.

Steve

Lee L · Jul 28, 2009

There is a "rule of thirds" and a different "golden mean" rule, there are also as many other rules of composition as you wish to make up or search out in books on art. As has been said before, it's great to have so many standards from which to choose.

It's either one size fits all, or one size gives us all fits.

Lee

jimgalli · Jul 28, 2009

David Nebenzahl said:
I knew someone would bring this up.

Yes, that's the way our optical sensory system works. But it sure as hell doesn't mean that viewing a scene upside down is "natural"; the view is 180 degrees out of whack, unless one is standing on their head.

Oh, well. People like to rationalize all kinds of stuff. Who am I to stand in their way?

Why would you insist that what you experience is THE norm and the rest of us are a bunch of irrational lunatics. Get real. It has been years since I looked at a ground glass and my brain told me the picture was upside down. Get over yourself.

Composing upside down

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency