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Our eyes work in a dynamic way. In fact what we ‘see’ is controlled by the brain as much as by the eyes. This gives us the ability to see ‘wide-angle’ and ‘telephoto’ views almost simultaneously. When you spot a friend in a crowded room, your eye does not physically zoom in on them. It’s your brain that does the zooming. We all have a ‘mental zoom lens’ that – most of the time – operates without our even being aware of it.

Wave, Isle of Harris (Chiz) What you leave out is just as important as what you keep in; simplicity is often the key

Suppose you decide to take a quick photo of your friend before they realise you’ve spotted them. You pick up the camera, point and shoot. All too often the result is a photo of a crowd, one of whom happens to be your friend. This happens because you looked through the viewfinder but your brain was still ‘zoomed in’ on that one person and disregarded everyone else. What you saw – or thought you saw – was not what you got.

Seeing your friend in that instant only gave you the potential for a picture. The picture you actually got was cluttered up by all the other people. If you’d only stopped for a fraction of a second to look at the viewfinder you would have seen them. If you’d seen them you could have zoomed in – with a real zoom lens this time – or else physically moved closer. Of course in moving closer you might have missed the picture. But if you couldn’t get it from where you were, you’re no worse off.