When visual artists are examining a subject, or developing tone within an image, we sometimes squint. (Go ahead. You can look at something and try it right now.)

Squinting helps us to see — very generally — what’s in light, and what’s in shadow. The finer details in each area fade away as the lights and darks coalesce.

It’s an easy way for us to see the overall picture, in a tonal sense.

* * *

Useful as it is, this technique is a little trickier to use when examining other things, like our lives, our circumstances, and our situations. To allow the endless details to momentarily fade away as we assess the light and shadow... the positive and negative.

But it’s worth a try.

And… we might even find that there’s a lot more light than shadow.