Is pre-visualisation bad for your photography?

This was not the image I planned to make - but I prefer it to my pre-visualisation

Do you know how your images are going to turn out before you take them?

Regular readers to my newsletter will know that I am currently reading The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. As I work my way through it, I was recently struck by one particular sentence:

“When a painter is painting, he or she may begin with a plan, but that plan is soon surrendered to the painting’s own plan.”

This sentence resonated with me because I have been recently wondering why I have often planned to make an image in particular way. But, at the end of the process, I finish up with something completely different. I am rarely displeased with the results. In fact, the final image is often more striking than the one I planned to make. It is as if the subject, or the image, have guided me in the making of what I end up with.

Photography is less organic than painting. It is possible to look at it as a more mechanical process. We can plan how our image should look out of camera. Our choice of lens, aperture, shutter speed and post-processing can all mean that we should be able to predict what the final result will look like. That means that many photographers pre-visualise their images.

What is pre-visualisation?

Pre-visualisation is the art of creating our image before we press the shutter button or even set our camera up. It may be how we see or frame a subject. It may be how we decide to portray it photographically: we can decide to create a high-key image or use movement or intentional camera movement. It may be the post-processing and editing that we plan to add after the image has been taken.

A photographer who is in control of their photography equipment and practised in using it will often have a good idea of what the final image will look like. They know what they are going to end up with. However, is that a good thing or not? Here are some of the dangers of pre-visualisation:

We close our mind to possibilities

Pre-visualisation can mean that we end up with a very fixed idea of the final image. As a result, we can fail to open our minds to other possibilities. We may take “the shot” and leave without exploring our subject further. That means we lose all the opportunities to play and experiment.

Equally, we may be fixed in our idea of style. We decide to stick with a single edit, rather than seeing we can take a different direction during post-processing. I take the opposite direction and often end up with too many edits to choose from!

We end up disappointed

It may be that we do not, or cannot, make an image as we had imagined. The light may be wrong. The subject may not be as we had imagined it. It may be that our ideas just don’t work on location.

As a result, some people may feel that they have “failed” because they didn’t create what they wanted. We can end up suffering from the curse of perfectionism. That leads to another problem.

We stop enjoying the process

The idea of “failure” can mean that we no longer find pleasure in our photography. Alternatively, we may decide not to make images because things aren’t right. I have heard of landscape photographers who decide not to go out for a day’s photography because the weather is wrong. But this means that they miss out on the opportunity to enjoy and portray the landscape in its many different guises.

So is pre-visualisation bad?

Not at all! Pre-visualisation is an incredibly useful process if used in the right way. It encourages us to explore ideas for the images that we make. It means that we spend more time being creative as we work through different ideas in our head. We can think about how we might apply the ideas of other artists to our subjects. My article on inspiration may give you some more thoughts on this.

In addition, it allows us to prepare before a shoot. We have created a starting point so that we are not lost when we approach a subject. However, we should not let pre-visualisation rule our images.

It is important to encourage freedom

If we let our pre-visualisation be the only outcome, then we might miss the opportunity to create a compelling image that we hadn’t thought of. Who know how we will feel when we come to make our image? Photography should be about our reactions and feelings at the time.

The other beauty of photography is that it gives us the opportunity to explore creatively. We should be trying out new ideas rather than sticking to a fixed formula. We should be taking the time to explore, enjoy and be mindful with our subjects.

Do we really want to know how everything is going to turn out before we pick up the camera?