Decided to try something new today—a study in texture. Of course converting to black and white keeps the focus on the texture and form rather than the color.

One clear lesson I’m always reminded of when I give myself an assignment pre-shoot is how differently I see things. If I have no specific vision of what I want, nothing really jumps out. As soon as I define for myself what I’m looking for, a specific theme or idea, it’s as if the world cooperates. I believe it’s called the reticular activating system (or maybe I’m remembering it wrong).

It’s the system that activates when you’ve clearly defined something. For example, as soon as you buy a particular car, you all of a sudden start seeing it everywhere. As photographers, it makes sense to define our vision pre-shoot so that we can take advantage of this reality.

So what will you plan for your shoot tomorrow?

Specs: Nikon D50, 50 mm lens, ISO 800 – 1600. Processed in Adobe Lightroom with my custom preset – Silver BWC. For main image, I used a Kodak negative preset from Inside Lightroom Presets, then removed saturation.

Manual: Page 54—Thumbnail Playback.

Images: Continued reading in The Photographer’s Eye by Michael Freeman. Some amazing images and ideas. If you haven’t seen it, you should definitely take a look. It will definitely open your eyes.