Find your dominant eye in 3 simple steps
Eye dominance (ocular dominance) is the tendency to prefer visual input from one eye, using it as the primary reference eye for spatial tasks. It is analogous to hand dominance but distinct — the two do not always match. Approximately 65–70% of people are right-eye dominant, roughly mirroring right-handedness, but around 30% of right-handers are left-eye dominant (crossed dominance).
Eye dominance affects aiming in any precision activity: shooting, archery, golf putting, snooker/billiards, and photography composition. Crossed dominance (different dominant eye and hand) is a common and underappreciated challenge for young people learning these skills — many children struggle with target sports because they instinctively aim with the non-dominant eye. Adjusting technique to use the dominant eye often produces immediate improvement.
For photography, dominant eye determines which eye you naturally press to the viewfinder. Many photographers do not realise they are using their non-dominant eye until they test, then notice significantly improved natural framing when switching.
The dominant eye test uses the Miles Test: form a small triangle with overlapping thumbs and forefingers, frame a distant object with both eyes open, then close each eye alternately. The eye that keeps the object centred in the triangle is the dominant eye. This works because the dominant eye's visual line is naturally centred in your forward-facing visual field, while the non-dominant eye's visual line is offset.
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