Eye dominance and ability to compose a photo

[Alan Edward Klein]

I do that lots of times with an Olympus XA. It works well, because it moves the controls that most require dexterity from the right side to my much more dexterous left hand.
It makes my contact sheets a bit confusing, but otherwise there is no real downside.
Come to think of it, it might work as well with my Retina IIIc.

How do you wind the film?

Reminds me that news photographers at crowded events use to take the prisms off their 35mm SLR cameras and hold them upside-down over their heads and the heads of the crowd in front of them to shoot the main subject in front. They would just look at the ground glass.

 

[snusmumriken]

What if the guns in the army are all right-handed?

Not generally a problem with rifles, because the sights are essentially telescopes, and you can use either eye or cram your left eye into place. I did have a problem with the automatic bolt/carriage on a (British army) SLR, though: took some chips out of my face.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

How do you wind the film?

Reminds me that news photographers at crowded events use to take the prisms off their 35mm SLR cameras and hold them upside-down over their heads and the heads of the crowd in front of them to shoot the main subject in front. They would just look at the ground glass.

By the way, that's a good way to shoot low like at flowers. Just remove the prism and line everything looking down at the ground glass. Of course, some cameras have chimney-type viewfinders to look down into to swap out the normal viewfinder. That could be another way to deal with the left-dominant issue.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Not generally a problem with rifles, because the sights are essentially telescopes, and you can use either eye or cram your left eye into place. I did have a problem with the automatic bolt/carriage on a (British army) SLR, though: took some chips out of my face.

Do the cartridge shells discharge on the right or left or is that adjustable? What about replacing the cartridge holder and placement of safety buttons?

 

[snusmumriken]

Do the cartridge shells discharge on the right or left or is that adjustable? What about replacing the cartridge holder and placement of safety buttons?

The sights are aligned with the barrel, so if your eye is lined up with the sights, the bullet will be on target (laterally). From my decades-past experience, the weapons we used were bilaterally symmetrical, so it wouldn't matter if you were left-handed, although I no-one was allowed to carry the thing left-handed 'cos that would look bad! I don't think there is any connection with photographic composition. Shotguns and archery, possibly; rifles, no.

 

[Sirius Glass]

What if the guns in the army are all right-handed?

They are for standardization and have been for many decades.

 

[Pieter12]

Most everything that is not obviously ambidextrous is right-handed. Just ask Ned Flanders.

 

[MattKing]

How do you wind the film?

I move my left thumb from the shutter release to the knurled wheel at the other end - my right hand just grips the camera.

 

[Vaughn]

They are for standardization and have been for many decades.

At least they issue right and left boots these days...

 

[Pieter12]

At least they issue right and left boots these days...

I guess if you have two left feet, you're exempt if the Draft ever comes back.

 

[Vaughn]

Left and right boots were introduced about the same time as photography (give or take a few decades). Both were rather new in America at the time of the American Civil War.
But judging by my prowness on the basketball court as a high school freshman in 1968, I had two left feet and kept tripping over the thickly painted lines on the court. Between that and having the eye-sight of a blind eagle, I still worried about the Draft.

 

[VinceInMT]

....Between that and having the eye-sight of a blind eagle, I still worried about the Draft.

I really worried about the draft since I had no physical or mental issues that would exclude me AND I had a low lottery number. Sure enough, they drafted me.

 

[Carpo]

I'm left eye dominant and modify my small cameras with big rubber eye cups to keep light from streaming into the viewfinder from the left edge. Tried using my right eye, but it just didn't click.

Write and play baseball right handed, but play lacrosse and hockey left handed.

 

[Carpo]

Left and right boots were introduced about the same time as photography (give or take a few decades). Both were rather new in America at the time of the American Civil War.
But judging by my prowness on the basketball court as a high school freshman in 1968, I had two left feet and kept tripping over the thickly painted lines on the court. Between that and having the eye-sight of a blind eagle, I still worried about the Draft.

Rubber eye cup, great solution! While my nose is smallish it’s still very awkward. Thanks

Left eyed, left legged, right handed - hemispherically confused.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I really worried about the draft since I had no physical or mental issues that would exclude me AND I had a low lottery number. Sure enough, they drafted me.

I joined the Air Force, but that was in 1963 a year before VietNam got really hot. No one even heard of the place then. Where did you serve?

 

[Vaughn]

I really worried about the draft since I had no physical or mental issues that would exclude me AND I had a low lottery number. Sure enough, they drafted me.

My lottery number was 242, give or take a few -- and they stopped drafting 19 yr olds the year I turned 19.

 

[jtk]

So you mean if you're left-eye dominant, you shoot lefty? If you're right-eye dominant you shoot righty? But what if a person is left-eyed and right-hand dominant or vice versa? Could you use this issue to avoid getting drafted? (seriously)

Eye dominance means different things to different people.

It's a measurable phenomenon but it's irrelevant to most activity.

Most people who claim to be eye-dominant seem to be unaware that if they close that dominant eye their point of view shifts laterally.

It's obviously true that one eye may be better than the other, but most photographers know that they can adjust the viewfinder to take care of that, except for the matter of the nose.

 

[jtk]

I’m not sure why you are right-handed, but the right side of the brain is associated with spatial abilities, imagination and visual awareness.

I don't think that has any scientific validity but it used to be a popular idea on Readers Digest.

 

[Jim Jones]

I beat getting drafted for the Korean War by enlisting in the Navy. Due to the Navy so-called kiddy cruise, I could (and did) retire shortly before turning 37. However, Navy training qualified me for a civilian job doing much the same work at three times the pay. A few years of that really set me up to enjoy the GI bill.

 

[VinceInMT]

I joined the Air Force, but that was in 1963 a year before VietNam got really hot. No one even heard of the place then. Where did you serve?

I was on the East Coast for a while and then spent most of my time in Germany.

 

[Pieter12]

I don't think that has any scientific validity but it used to be a popular idea on Readers Digest.

You may be referring to the popular belief that the right hemisphere is associated with creativity. What I am referring is spatial relationships and how that might be connected to artistic composition.

From a paper on the Dana Foundation website, published in 2019:
"...for about 30 percent of lefties, the right hemisphere rules in these regards. The same is true for about 3 percent of right-handers. In another substantial minority, control of language seems more evenly distributed between the hemispheres. Functions in which the right hemisphere commonly predominates have taken longer to pin down, and are less marked than language dominance.

This side seems particularly important in spatial orientation—people with right brain injuries are prone to getting lost even in familiar surroundings, and may become unable to draw. ..."

From the NIH (2010):
"...The right hemisphere sees the whole, before whatever it is gets broken up into parts in our attempt to know it, and its holistic processing is not based on summation of parts. The right hemisphere, with its greater integrative power, is constantly searching for patterns in things, and its understanding is based on complex pattern recognition. On the other hand, the left hemisphere sees part-objects..."
"...For the same reason that the right hemisphere sees things as a whole, it also sees each thing in its context, as standing in a qualifying relationship with all that surrounds it..."

 

[snusmumriken]

You may be referring to the popular belief that the right hemisphere is associated with creativity. What I am referring is spatial relationships and how that might be connected to artistic composition.

From a paper on the Dana Foundation website, published in 2019:
"...for about 30 percent of lefties, the right hemisphere rules in these regards. The same is true for about 3 percent of right-handers. In another substantial minority, control of language seems more evenly distributed between the hemispheres. Functions in which the right hemisphere commonly predominates have taken longer to pin down, and are less marked than language dominance.

This side seems particularly important in spatial orientation—people with right brain injuries are prone to getting lost even in familiar surroundings, and may become unable to draw. ..."

From the NIH (2010):
"...The right hemisphere sees the whole, before whatever it is gets broken up into parts in our attempt to know it, and its holistic processing is not based on summation of parts. The right hemisphere, with its greater integrative power, is constantly searching for patterns in things, and its understanding is based on complex pattern recognition. On the other hand, the left hemisphere sees part-objects..."
"...For the same reason that the right hemisphere sees things as a whole, it also sees each thing in its context, as standing in a qualifying relationship with all that surrounds it..."

From what I’ve read, these ideas about functional asymmetry in the brain are not undisputed. Even if they are right, we still have to explain how eye-dominance and handedness are hooked up to the two hemispheres, and whether those connections differ in ‘cross-dominant’ people.

It’s fascinating to speculate on a mechanism, but I notice that while others on this thread find left-eye-dominance inconvenient, no-one else seems to have linked composition to whether they use their dominant eye or not. So maybe I’m wrong in suspecting a connection. All I really know is that composing is faster and more successful with my left eye, even though it’s awkward with a right-handed camera. But my right eye also has a bit more astigmatism, so the cause could be at the sensor level, rather than connections within the brain.

Fascinating discussion, though, glad I started this thread.

 

[Doremus Scudder]

FWIW, I find it easier to use my dominant left eye when composing, usually without the camera, but with a viewing frame/filter. I don't usually pay that much attention to which eye I use; just instinctively use the left. I'll play around with using the other eye next time I'm really working and see if it makes a significant difference.

Doremus

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

From what I’ve read, these ideas about functional asymmetry in the brain are not undisputed. Even if they are right, we still have to explain how eye-dominance and handedness are hooked up to the two hemispheres, and whether those connections differ in ‘cross-dominant’ people.

It’s fascinating to speculate on a mechanism, but I notice that while others on this thread find left-eye-dominance inconvenient, no-one else seems to have linked composition to whether they use their dominant eye or not. So maybe I’m wrong in suspecting a connection. All I really know is that composing is faster and more successful with my left eye, even though it’s awkward with a right-handed camera. But my right eye also has a bit more astigmatism, so the cause could be at the sensor level, rather than connections within the brain.

Fascinating discussion, though, glad I started this thread.

Just as our dominant hand is more capable, our dominant eye seems likely to be better able to compose.

What is equally interesting to me that I never thought of before, is what advantage is there for a species to have dominant tendencies rather than having equal abilities? For one, isn't it easier to always line up the dominant eye and hand the same way each time? There's no confusion about what the body has to do when it must react quickly to save itself from danger for example. The dominant hand and arm strengthen themselves to protect the individual better than if both arms were equal. Since we aim our head to look at things, (not our eyes as many people think), having a dominant eye means the head always knows which way it should move. There's no confusion as if it keeps switching back and forth between both eyes.

I'm sure others could come up with other good reasons for dominance. Of course, Mickey Mantle was a switch hitter. So there's that.

 

[Pieter12]

For what it's worth, 72.3% of left-hand throwers and writers are left-eye dominant, with the throwing hand being somewhat more strongly associated with eyedness. Eyedness runs in families, handwriting hand and throwing hand are probably co-inherited. (NIH, 1999)