拝見する
haiken suru
Same "look", but only your own eyes drop a level
The picture Holding someone else's thing in both hands, head bowed, your eyes brought down below the object to look into it. 拝見する lowers your own eyes; ご覧になる raises theirs a level and lets them look.
Where the picture shows up in 拝見する
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reading downward
メール、拝見しました。
mēru, haiken shimashita
I've read your email.
The letter held in both hands, head bowed, the text read from above downward.
The standard opening line of a business reply.
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the palm opened before touching
お写真を拝見してもよろしいですか。
o-shashin o haiken shite mo yoroshii desu ka
Would it be all right if I looked at the photo?
An upturned palm offered before your fingers reach the photo, waiting for permission.
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cupped at chest height
失礼します、チケットを拝見いたします。
shitsurei shimasu, chiketto o haiken itashimasu
Excuse me — may I check your ticket?
The ticket taken, cupped in both hands at chest height, and handed straight back.
拝見いたします sits one notch lower than 拝見します.
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the same eyes move to the phone
ホームページを拝見してお電話しました。
hōmupēji o haiken shite o-denwa shimashita
I'm calling after looking at your website.
The eyes that were reading the screen shifting, unbroken, to the telephone receiver.
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what you haven't looked down at yet
その資料はまだ拝見しておりません。
sono shiryō wa mada haiken shite orimasen
I haven't had a chance to look at that document yet.
The envelope still sealed on the desk, your gaze already lowered in front of it.
おりません is the humble form of いません — the sentence is lowered twice.
All of it in one picture
拝見する leaves the meaning of 見る untouched and lowers only the height of the eyes doing the looking. A received email is held in both hands and read downward; someone else's photo waits for an open palm and a nod before your fingers touch it. At the gate a ticket is cupped at chest height and handed straight back, and the eyes that read a homepage carry over to the receiver. Even when you say you haven't seen it yet, the side that drops is your own gaze.