DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Photographers, look after your eyes

Aug 25, 2018 by Kieran Stone 5 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Sight is very important to me. It’s one of my senses that I don’t think I could ever do without. A musician might fear going deaf, but I could live with that. I’d rather not have to but if it came down to losing my hearing or losing my vision, I’d take being deaf. That’s just me. As I’m getting older, I know that one of the inevitable symptoms of old age is a degradation of vision. This also scares me. So much of what I enjoy in life, such as photography, is dependant on having healthy eyes. That is why with all the time I spend processing photos or glued to social media on my phone, I make sure to exercise my eyes at least once every day. Here are some of the exercises I do to keep my eyes as healthy as possible.

Keep in mind that eye exercises, although beneficial, will not cure current eye conditions such as myopia, hyperopia and others. They may however delay these conditions developing over time. Just like exercising any part of your body properly keeps it in good condition, so can exercising your eyes.

Varying Focus

When you spend hours staring at a screen at work or at home, your eyes are constantly focused at a fixed distance. To avoid this creating any issues, I put my finger in front of my eyes as close as I can focus, then I switch my focus to something in the distance. I do this about 10 times, holding to focus for a couple of seconds.

Up, down, left, right

Next, I’ll stretch out the muscles in all directions for 5 seconds. Keeping my head facing straight and still, I’ll look up as high as I can and pick something to focus on and hold it for 5 seconds, then rest for 2 seconds. Then I’ll do the same looking down, then left, then right. I’ve found that if I try too hard in any direction it can start to become sore, so I make sure I back off a little if I feel I’m over straining.

The Eye Roll

 After loosening the eyes with some directional stretching, I then move on to a moving stretch. I start with keeping my head still and looking straight up, then I’ll roll my eyes slowly in one direction 3 times. After resting them for a few seconds I’ll repeat the exercise in the opposite direction.

Hard Blink

To help cool down and relax I finish with a hard blink. Closing my eyes as tight as I can for 2 seconds, then opening them for 2 seconds. I’ll repeat this 10 times.

Additional Protection

As well as taking the time to do these simple eye exercises once a day, and especially after a lot of screen time, there are other things you can do to look after your eyes. Just remembering to blink can keep your eyes from drying out. When staring at something intently, you’d be surprised at how little you blink compared to normal. This is exactly the time you should be blinking. Try making a conscious effort to blink more.

Wearing sunglasses when you’re outside can protect your eyes in more than one way. As well as providing UV protection for your eyes, it can also keep dust and particles from irritating them. There’s nothing wrong with wearing sunglasses on a cloudy day.

There are other eye exercises out there and ways to protect them, but these were some that work for me and are easy to fit into my life. Since this is technically a medical topic, I should point out that I am not a health professional and if you have any problems with your eyes, seek proper medical attention.

I’d love to hear any ways that you look after your eyes or other senses to keep your body in the best condition possible. Leave a comment below.

About the Author

Kieran Stone is an Australian photographer and a half of the fantastic duo at Project RAWcast. You can follow their photography podcast on their website and YouTube channel, and keep up to date with their activities on their Facebook page.

As for Kieran’s work, you can see more on his website, Facebook page, and Instagram. This article was also published here and shared with permission.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Different Types Of Photographers As Seen Through The Eyes Of Models Look at the world through the eyes of photographers with no permanent home TriggerTrap’s LapseWorld Shows off 5 Major Cities Through the Eyes of Crowdsourced Time-Lapse Photographers Photographer’s self portraits make her one with nature as animals eyes replace her own in ‘Animeyed’

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: exercise, eyes, human eyes, Kieran Stone, photographers

Guest Author: from diyphotography.net

About Guest Author

We love it when our readers get in touch with us to share their stories. This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.

« Exploring the Dolomites: Photographer Spotlight Q&A With Jessica Tabarelli
Photography is an antidepressant »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Botched selfie escalates to draining of reservoir
  • Panasonic PanaTrack is a big bendy motorised camera slider
  • Once again, tourists are getting too close to bison for photos
  • Fujifilm announces shipping delays for the new Fuji X-S20
  • International Photography Awards reveals breathtaking 2022 winners (mildly NSFW)

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy