The evening before my corneal graft surgery, I decided to venture out with my camera despite my severely compromised vision. With my right eye essentially non-functional any bright or contrasting lights causing lasting effects in both eyes, photography has become a challenge of trust in my camera rather than precision.
Adapting to Visual Limitations
My relationship with photography has transformed dramatically. Electronic viewfinders are now unusable, and even the flip-out LCD screens present a significant challenge. I've adapted by:
- Returning to spot metering in the centre of the frame (reminiscent of my old Pentax Spotmatic days)
- Trusting my camera's autofocus setting to use that centre point
- I don’t fully trust the cameras “averaging” exposure so I set up my Olympus's back wheel for quick exposure value adjustments
- Taking multiple shots to compensate for uncertainty
Despite these adaptations, my photography outings have become rare as my vision keeps me indoors most days.
An Evening in Parliament Gardens
I stayed near the hospital and across the road from Parliament Gardens for my pre-surgery evening. As sunset approached, I noticed St. Paul's spire beautifully illuminated by the fading light. Just as I captured the scene, the bells began to ring—perhaps marking the time or the beginning of a conclave to select the next pope.
After uploading to my computer, I enhanced the raw file using Olympus's Vivid Mode, I had slightly underexposed the scene to preserve the golden hour tones, so lightened the shadows marginally, and cooled the overall temperature to deepen the sky. Not bad for someone with compromised vision!
Moonlight and Palm Trees
The moon caught my attention next, visible at that perfect moment when its illumination balances with the sky's brightness. I framed it with a palm tree swaying in the strong breeze, slightly underexposed again, and trusted my focus on the centered moon. Back at the computer, I applied the same vivid treatment, cooled the colour temperature, and cropped the image to position the moon slightly off-center.
Dinner on Spring Street, with a bit of creative post-processing
We continued our evening at a café on Spring Street opposite the Parliament building. The ambience was magical—lights just coming on while the sky remained bright, creating that challenging exposure scenario where automatic settings typically give you a bleached-out sky and detail-less shadows.
Rather than being discouraged, I saw post-processing potential. Using Luminar Neo's AI sky replacement and relighting features, I enhanced the scene to reflect the warm, pleasant Melbourne evening we experienced. The result captured the ambience of outdoor dining perfectly, despite not having a spectacular natural sunset.
In these moments before my surgery, photography became not just about seeing perfectly, but about adapting, trusting my equipment, and finding creative ways to preserve memories despite visual challenges.
So I must admit I was feeling a bit smug that I resisted the subscription model (for purely cost reasons) Even though I still have to occasionally update my software. Many companies try to get that upgrade fee out of you often (eg yearly) I normally resist and upgrade on the second or third iteration and or when new features I would regularly use are rolled out. Generally I download the free trial versions first so I get a good idea of what I need versus could wait a little longer for.