The camera doesn't see what the eye sees. Of the two of you the camera is the one without the brain (we hope). But it's also the one without the loves, hates, desires, needs, bias', prejudices, pre-conceived ideas-whatever you want to call them. Those things that make your images or scenes come out different than you thought they would. It's up to you to teach your camera to look, right after you learn how.

So, what are we talking about here? We're talking about composition. Why is composition so difficult? We look at something and it looks the way we want it to look. We shoot it and it looks like something else, something not like what we thought. Why? Because when you look, you are looking not at images but ideas, concepts, stuff all mixed up with what you are seeing and what you are thinking. In short, you are not looking, you are seeing. On the other hand, when your camera looks it looks only at images. Notice I didn't say it SEES only images-it doesn't see, it only looks. Why is composition even more difficult when it comes to photo and video? One of the reasons I think it is, or, way to say it, is, other arts are additive, photography and video is subtractive. Here's what that means. A painter starts with a blank canvas, a writer starts with a blank page, a sculptor with a lump of clay. They proceed by adding elements to the medium, the canvas, the page, the clay. Imagine a writer having to start with the page already full of random words and then having to eliminate the unwanted ones to get the desired result. If you know what a collage is, it's a pasting together of seemingly random things to arrive at a meaning, a kind of gestalt that didn't exist in the original. Photo and video are a kind of reverse collage, removing the unwanted, the random, the meaningless.

Digital imaging gives you the greatest amount of freedom ever experienced in the history of the medium. Cameras are smaller and lighter than ever before. The giant advantage is you can shoot almost endlessly without having to process film of wait for the results. Meticulous pre-planning to save on the cost of film and processing, and, to be sure you got the desired result the first time, now seems unnecessary. It turns out this giant advantage is also its biggest disadvantage. Pre-planning is still needed. Lucky accidents only come along once in a while and not often enough.

Here's Three things to do to improve seeing what you are looking at:

Squint. It makes you concentrate on the overall scene so when you un-squint you notice the clutter more clearly.

Scan. When you look at your view screen or view finder, look in the corners not just the center. Actively look. Move your eye around the screen, looking into each corner. Avoid tunnel vision by avoiding locking in on the center.

Square. Cut a square hole in a piece of cardboard about a 1x1.5 inch opening. Carry it with you and use it to examine the world around you. Without your camera you will take more time to consider what you're looking at, and you'll be better prepared for the next time you're using your camera.

Thanks for listening. Don't forget to think, and look.

Joseph Valentinetti is an author of novels: fiction and fiction based on fact. He writes articles on a variety of subjects, from impressions of travel spots to speculating about the name of the moon, but his focus is on his writing and author interviews. Get better acquainted at http://www.valentinetti.com/. Join his site for a free booklet on light ans seeing, pick up his feed and become part of the dialog. Read A Book.