The brain icons tell you whether what you’re about to read is going to talk about the analytical, logical side of photography, or the creative, artistic side, or both. Usually my posts will discuss both sides, as they are both essential to making great images.  Hopefully this will help you decide whether this particular post (or section of a post) is something you would like to read.

If you see this icon, what you are about to read will focus on the aspects of photography traditionally* associated with the left hemisphere of the brain: equipment, settings, composition, technique, lighting, editing, etc.

If you see this icon, what you are about to read will focus on the aspects of photography traditionally* associated with the right hemisphere of the brain: art, philosophy, stories, emotion, the meaning of life, etc.

If you see this icon, what you are about to read will discuss both the left-brain and right-brain sides* of photography. As I mentioned before, pretty much every post will include at least some of both sides.

Occasionally I’ll add a brain in the middle of a post to designate a particularly techy or artsy-fartsy section, which the reader can skip over, if desired, until the brain with both hemispheres colored returns.

I’d like to thank Shmector for providing the vector art that I used to make the brain icon (basically all I did was add the colors and one small piece at the bottom, along with some opacity changes).

* Just to be clear, I am aware that scientists long ago debunked the theory that our brains are split this way, but it’s still a fun and handy way to classify the creative and analytical sides of ourselves.