It’s fun to watch YouTube videos showing street photographers out getting shots. When you see them looking off intently, you can sense the wheels turning inside. We all know that great feeling of sniffing out a shot. It’s a mixture of thinking and not thinking.
It’s “instincting” (to verbalize a noun).
Brain scientists debate whether we can think things without learning them. Complex thought, it is believed by some, requires at least some training, some observation and then rational, logical, sequential thought. You begin with a pure blank slate and learn as you go. Others believe we are born just knowing certain stuff and don’t need to be taught.
The beauty of photography is that it’s both. We are born to see and learn to observe.
There can be a lot of thought in getting a good photo; checking light and shadow, framing our subjects, getting the right angles, timing our shot, setting the camera.
There is also a lot of “feel” that is beyond thought. The best photos are felt as much as if not more than they are thought.
Instincting blends thought and feeling to produce a conclusion about what we are experiencing and then directs as to what actions to take.
So if someone asks how you got a great photo just them them you instincted it.