Richard Avedon of the Eyepatch Set

October 10, 2016 5:30 AM

I am a lifelong, semi-professional photographer who has recently had severe vision loss in my right eye. Help me to become the best one-eyed photographer ever.

Recently had surgery for a detached retina and my right eye is a complete blur. Not sure when or if it will get better. Had a photography trip to Japan booked before I lost my vision. I am going anyway and facing difficulties.

I shoot with a Sony A7ll. Mostly with a 28-200 zoom lens. My main problems are 3. How to deal with reduced peripheral vision? Should I use the monitor or the viewfinder? Should I forgo all action shots due to increased set up time?

I am now depending on one eye to do the job of two. So be it. Help me to be effective in meeting this new life challenge.

posted by Xurando to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Vision reduction must be overwhelming but perhaps you're overworrying just a bit, The composition through the view finder is always a single eye, you may discover your photos improve. Do take care day to day finding a safe spot to stand with reduced depth perception.
posted by sammyo at 5:59 AM on October 10, 2016 [5 favorites]

Maybe read some interviews with the late, one-eyed film director André de Toth? Hell, the guy made a couple films in 3-D!

John Ford and (later in his life) Fritz Lang also managed to direct movies with only a single functioning eye. Raoul Walsh, too, I think.
posted by Dr. Wu at 11:01 AM on October 10, 2016

The first thing that popped into my head was film director André De Toth From his imdb bio:

Probably his best known film is House of Wax (1953), a Vincent Price horror film shot in 3-D. As De Toth only had one eye, that put him in the somewhat odd position of shooting a film in a process in which he would never be able to see the result. That didn't seem to matter, though; the film was a critical and financial success, and is generally considered to be the best 3-D film ever made.

Now, he wasn't a DP or art director, but still.

Now, I was never a great photographer or visual artist, but when I lost a bunch of vision I found I was eventually able to adapt as a costume designer and seamstress to the point I was able before. My feeling is that if you were good before, you will be again.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:01 AM on October 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hi, I'm a sports photographer who effectively only has the use of one eye. Since this has always been how I am, I guess it never occurred to me that it was even an issue. Do you know if you were left- or right-eye dominant before? Especially if you were left-eye dominant before, you have nothing to worry about. Put your left eye up to the viewfinder and start shooting. (I never use the monitor, for unrelated reasons -- if you were using it before, I don't see why you couldn't/wouldn't continue, but maybe someone who uses it would be a better source of advice here.)
posted by karbonokapi at 11:31 AM on October 10, 2016 [1 favorite]