![]() Negative space can appear anywhere in a picture. The balance between them should be pleasing. Negative and positive spaces are side by side. Since a photo is two-dimensional, the space around a subject appears on the same plane as the subject. In many cases, it also provides a vital element in the design of your image. Here the subject is the brass object, but the negative space that forms the letter is equally if not more important. It is a design element in your image.Ī stencil can help you recognize this importance. ![]() However, it is something to be considered, because it is an important part of a picture’s composition. Negative space is not something to be avoided. The word negative is used descriptively it is not a value judgment. Within that frame, the subject is considered the positive area the rest is called negative space. The edges of any picture form a frame for that picture. Negative space is all the space inside the picture that is not the subject. Think of this the next time out and spend a bit more time questioning all aspects of your image before and after clicking the shutter.Many elements work together to create a pleasing photograph. If I told you that every square inch of your frame was worth a million dollars if it served a purpose – either positive or negative space – you would certainly not waste any territory within the composition. Moran and tried not to squeeze it too tight against the peaks – there must be some breathing room or the image feels pinched. I limited my “uninteresting” sky to give the viewer just enough sense of where it began in relation the Mt. One can’t help but have some dead space within a composition, but one should be aware of it and try to minimize it. Had I placed a human on the right quadrant of my composition looking left, then the space behind my person (who would now become the main subject) would be my dead space. In general terms, dead space is the area within a composition that is behind the main subject – in this case the sky. I even toyed with cloning out the clump of grass along the shoreline but decided to leave it as it visually came to life with the sun’s warm light at sunset and served to connect the vibrant section of the scene to the bottom of the frame. Sure, one would know it was a river but it would have been very uninteresting.īy revealing the rocks, the eye now has a reason to gravitate to that portion of the frame. In fact roughly two-thirds of the composition would have held zero visual interest. In the image (above), had I not brought out the foreground rocks under the Snake River, I would have had a lot of empty space the served no purpose for the rest of the image. When one becomes unaware of negative space, oftentimes I see images with ineffective empty space.Įmpty space is simply that, space that adds no meaning to the image, does not help balance the image, nor holds any visual interest. There are times that I am shooting strictly textures or patterns and it is not needed however, one should always keep the thought of effective negative space within the forefront of one’s thought process when composing. Magazine editors love negative space as it not only helps to keep an image balanced, but also allows for an area that type (both headline and copy) can be overlayed.Īs an artist (photographer) I employ negative space in the majority of my images. Negative space may be most evident when the space around a subject, not the subject itself, forms an interesting or artistically relevant shape, and such space occasionally is used to artistic effect as the “real” subject of an image. In art/photography, negative space is the empty area around and between the subject(s) of an image. I like to say that there are no rules in art but there are certainly important time-tested guidelines that can be incorporated into many compositions.įor this article, I’d like to discuss the difference between Negative, Empty and Dead Space and how each helps or hinders a composition. My training comes from art classes and years of reading and incorporating ideas from other artists and editors. ![]() ![]() It is part of my job to point out both the strengths and weaknesses (along with other aspects pertinent to the crafting of a compelling image) that can help the student learn to create stronger and more efficient compositions. Sony a7RII, Sony 16-35mm, f/16, 1/4 sec., 100 ISOĭuring my workshop image review sessions, I obviously see all types of compositions. Evening Sunset, Snake River, Oxbow Bend, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. ![]()
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