How do you visualise without a camera?

learn to judge the angle of view for the lenses you carry, know how many fingers at arms length equals 200, 300, 400 mm, this will help you judge how much stalking you will need to do to get a well framed shot. I hate setting up the tripod, changing to the long lens, and then finding out I want to get closer or that I need to change lenses again quickly before some critter gets nervous. framing is one skill, but being sneaky in brush with extended tripod legs and a big reflective peice of glass is another.

YORCHI wrote in post #7521005
thanks for sharing these tips...I feel this is my weakest point and something I need to learn to do better so I can stop taking "snapshots"

All great tips in this thread. When I first studied photography I was where you are at now. I learned how to do all this stuff over time, and only by doing it every day. It is like mkost things, you need to excercise these techniques a lot for them to become second nature.

For me it took six months first time around. After 18 months my brain was processing everything it received visually to mentally compose infinite 36mm x 24mm shaped images. It was at that point where I started to consistently get good images, and occaisionally a great one that wasn't a fluke.

birdfromboat wrote in post #7523934
learn to judge the angle of view for the lenses you carry, know how many fingers at arms length equals 200, 300, 400 mm, this will help you judge how much stalking you will need to do to get a well framed shot. I hate setting up the tripod, changing to the long lens, and then finding out I want to get closer or that I need to change lenses again quickly before some critter gets nervous. framing is one skill, but being sneaky in brush with extended tripod legs and a big reflective peice of glass is another.

If you are trying to photograph wildlife, the above makes sense.

However, in trying to make the best image of a scene, a skilled photographer will look at the perspective (simple definition: size relationship between foreground and background elements in the scene) and find a location from which to shoot which will provide the desired perspective. Then the focal length will be chosen to frame the image appropriately.

agreed, It all works together, these are all tools the OP will use as skills progress. When I am looking for the desired perspective on wildlife, it is always right under the mooses nose. Haven't been getting the desired perspective much, but I'm trying, I'm trying REAL hard.......

birdfromboat wrote in post #7527982
When I am looking for the desired perspective on wildlife, it is always right under the mooses nose....

Wait... what?

never seen a moose in nevada

Adams and other photography teachers of his era had their students obtain an 8x10 mat board with a 4x5 hole cut in the middle of it. That was their visualization tool. Hold it close, and it isolates a wide-angle scene. Hold it far, and it's like a telephoto.

As others have said, after a while, one does it naturally. When I have the camera with me, I use the camera for the same purpose. But it's an easy camera to hold up to my eye and point it wherever, and that was not always the case.

Rick "who has such a card in his view-camera case" Denney

If you can't imagine how the beauty of a scene can be captured with your raw eyes, the confined viewfinder of a camera will not help at all.