Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Importance of Eyes



Have you ever noticed how much care photographers take about the eyes of their subjects? Whether it be a baby, a senor photo shoot, an elderly man, a pouting toddler... they focus in on the eyes.

I have always been captured by eyes. The color. The expression. The beauty and delicacy and emotion encompassed in two small orbs stuck in your face. It is incredible. No matter who a person is, I look at their eyes. I can see a lot about them just by what they look like. How they glance around. How they avoid contact. How crinkles fold at the edges when they laugh. Eyes are beautiful. And speak so much.

 
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There is a beauty found in the human eye that you can't express. And I think it is important to capture that in writing. It is a hard thing to do. Eyes are visual. Not just because they are literally what we see through, but because their expression is something we see. And to be able to convey it in a story is something both necessary and hard.
 
And when done right, powerful.
 
Ways to describe eyes vary. You can display shock by widening them. Anger by narrowing them. Pain with tears.

 
 
 
 
And still, there is more to it than that. I find this quote by Leonardo da Vinci covers it pretty well.


 
 
 
Eyes speak the heart. You can see love shining, hatred simmering, anger churning, pain screaming...oh, it goes on and on. But it boils down to one thing. Eyes are important, to humans and the way we interact and contact each other, and need to be used. Finding the perfect way to do that is tricky. But when you can do it, you capture something that cannot be put into words. Just seen.
 
 



8 comments:

  1. YES to everything! I LOVE eyes! Eyes are so beautiful, they can convey emotion so well. God designed us well. :)

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  2. Mm. Yes. I obviously have an eye obsession (as can be seen on my pinterest), and I did a special spin off with eye colour in my books. I agree eyes are important, but it depends on the narrator, doesn't it? Aren't girls more prone to notice eyes then guys are?

    Great post! (As always... xD)

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    1. Hahaha, don't we both.... ;)
      I don't think so. I know a lot of boys who say the first thing they notice about people are their eyes. Even my brother says that...
      Thanks!!! Aw, you're so sweet!!! <3 <3 :D

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  3. Well said! Eyes are amazing things for conveying emotion, and an author can have an absolute FIELD DAY with their use in characters - especially in really emotional scenes of one sort or another, or if the character's not a great talker. I certainly love using eyes. Hate people going anywhere near mine, though, for some reason. Twitchy creature xD

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    1. No kidding!!! And just that moment when you get it right and shiver because you can SEE you're character staring at you through the pages.... yeah. I like it.
      Ahhhh....poor things. LOL! Mine pretend a lot. They pretend they are fine and they pretend they don't care but they don't mind being watched... lol! I know. I am a strange person. ;)

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  4. True. I like to study people's eyes, to see what they are thinking. Though very often I don't like to make eye contact for the same reason, I don't wish them to guess what I am thinking.

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    1. How true!!! Yeah, the eyes tell a lot about your thoughts...and sometime you don't want them to be known...

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