PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES >> MINIMALISM / NEGATIVE SPACE
The month of February was all about taking away the clutter. To shoot minimalistic or using negative space is once again something that can be interpreted differently, depending on who the artist is. These two photography techniques are used to help draw attention to a subject within a photo. You might find minimalism in a vast location with only the subject there to draw you in (think a wide angle photo of just the sand, ocean and sky with a jetty in the middle running out to sea), or you might find it in an image where it is defined by a few simple colours (think an up close photo of a white daisy on a white background, the only other colour being the yellow centre). Negative space on the other hand, is where there is almost no clutter or distractions around a subject in an image. Think of it as empty, unused space. Two ways to create this negative space are to 1) put your subject against a blank wall and take the picture making sure you have plenty of wall space around your subject. The subject will stand out because there is nothing else distracting around it - the space around it is empty. 2) By crouching down and shooting up to the subject. The sky will become the negative space you seek.
I usually would try to embrace a little bit of clutter here and there, because I personally believe it helps to tell a story. I do love a good shot that involves some very clear negative space, but I don't usually go seeking it out every time I am taking photos, so I did struggle quite a bit and am actually very surprised that I managed a decent little grid for you here! I've even included three images that were shot on film instead of digital and one iPhone shot. Can you guess which ones which?
