[matthew]

"For a subject to be strong enough to be worth photographing, the relationship of its forms must be rigorously established. Composition starts when you situate your camera in space in relation to the object."
-Henri Cartier-Bresson

In the composition of a photograph, there are three elements. There is the frame, which is the edge of the photograph, and is our tool to impose order and shape, confining the viewer to the scene we see. There is the subject, which is the portion of the image that we feel is most important, and what we want to direct the viewers attention to. Finally, there is the negative space -- the 'everything else' that exists in a photograph. Negative space is what defines the subject and is created by the frame.

For this assignment, pay particular attention to the space in the viewfinder that is not the subject. There is no particular style or 'look' that the skilled use of negative space will create, but you'll know you've gotten it right when your photos are better than they would otherwise be. You can use this thread to post your successes, and the images that you learn from.

I have to acknowledge an excellent article by Richard Martin in the magazine Photo Life. Without reading "The Positive Side of Negative Space", I wouldn't have been thinking along these lines, and my photography would be continuing to suffer. While this magazine is always worth buying, this article in the July issue is particularly excellent. You can find a preview of it in the current issue here: http://www.photolife.com/features.php

[matthew]

While this magazine is always worth buying, this article in the July issue ....

I should probably mention that, while I have no financial relationship with the magazine (i.e., I don't have a subscription ) there's an article in the July issue by Katherine Keates, who is a member of the same camera club that I belong to. (Wo-hoo!) The magazine's Canadian, but it's worth the effort to find it for those few of you who don't live here.

We now return to our regularly scheduled assignment...

[matthew]

cry


I've been in a bit of a slump recently, but thinking about negative space has helped to draw me out of it. This image was taken in the stairwell of a major hospital, which adds a certain poignancy to the marker scrawl.


smoke


I've always tended to extremes, with close crops or nearly-absent subjects, but all of my favourite photos make extensive use of negative space. This is the first time I've really thought about it in a constructive, intentional way.


doing this and that


There's so much wrong with 'doing this and that' that it barely merits being a snapshot, but it wasn't. It was preseen, carefully composed, and then I pressed the shiny button exactly when I wanted to. I find it compelling. Your mileage may vary.


nine meters


At this point -- four photos too late -- I might as well admit that I'm shooting purely for my own experience, and really haven't spared any thought about whether these are "good" or if anyone else will like them. It's been liberating. These four were taken within the past two days; I have some more from today that should be a little happier. I'll try to get them up too.

[Toad]

I really like Nine Meters and also Smoke. Nine Meters best fits with the Negative Space concept also IMO.

[matthew]

Thanks. I was thinking that nine meters might be one of those "had to be there" moments. (I don't know why hospitals have to be painted in such ghastly colours.) I wanted to move down, so that the handrail went across the bottom quarter of the image, instead of forming its boundary, but that would have lost the notice at the top that explains where the photo was taken.

"smoke" was an interesting photo to take. The woman was standing near me, while I stood there pointing the camera at the far wall. (This is a really busy location, just outside a subway station exit, and I was standing in the middle of the sidewalk to the biggest shopping mall in Toronto.) She walked into the frame, stopped, turned, and lit her cigarette. I'm not sure she ever even saw me standing there.

Here's what I just spent the last hour doing to "Cry":



It's actually a different photo, which I picked because of the skewed angles and the vignetting caused by a loose lens hood. (Why am I using a lens hood inside, and why am I converting an image from raw when I wind up doing that to it?) It makes a stunning print, if I say so myself.

[Russt]

Great assignment Matt, this should be interesting. I agree negative space can be the make or break of a shot. I also like the pics you have posted. "This and that" along with "smoke" work for me.

[smarti77]

Matthew - Your edited version of cry is great. Its very 'One flew over the cuckoos nest'.. Love it.

I didn't have many good examples of negative space. This one is an extreme use of negative space, taken during my recent trip to Mackay, QLD. The subject is Mt. Jukes. A relative lives at the base of this striking landscape.

[Pat]

These showers were used by the passengers who were quarrantined at North Head early 1800's after they disembarked their ship and before they were allowed to go onto their living quarters - quite a few died, other pioneers survived to settle our country.

[Keith Alan]

While shooting an egg-toss game at a smalltown celebration yesterday, I spotted a candidate for the broken AND negative space assignments.
What I didn't know at the time was that my camera is broken, too, which explains the banding.

[matthew]

In reverse order:

K, that banding is almost a compositional element. There's broken, and there's different... that's a neat shot.

Pat, that's a great shot. I've looked at it for a while, and it has really grown on me. The juxtaposition of the cold green and the warm spill of light is just perfect. The warmth of the doorway firmly establishes the subject, and the detail of the foreground adds interest.

Smarti, I'm still flying east and west at the moment, but there are many advantages to becoming an elective mute. I'm glad that "cry" communicates what I want it to. Next, to find a frame for it... Yours is a really classic shot, and excellently done. The square crop is a nice touch, adding strong geometry to the organic flow of its simple lines. Square frames are hard to find, but this one's worth it.

Russt, I've been looking forward to this assignment all week. Of all the assignments I've posted, this is probably the most important one. Certainly, it's the one with the greatest utility.

[Kombisaurus]

Great assignment Matthew.... and great photos too!
I especially like "Nine Meters" and "Doing This and That". They are both definately far more than just snapshots.
I also really like where you're taking "Cry". I'd love to see more experimental stuff like that around here - perhaps blurring the boundaries between photography and other artforms.

Anyway, here are a couple of my efforts. Both of these shots were taken quite impusively and intuitively today without any real thought of why I was taking them. I simply saw the scene and thought "there's a shot", and then took the shot using nothing but gut feeling. It was only when I was reviewing them on my PC later that I asked myself why I took them and what they might be good for.
I saw this assignment a few days ago and some of the shots posted so far stuck in my mind. Of course in hindsight I'm sure that's what gave me that "gut feeling" to take these shots, but at the time I wasn't consciously thinking of this assignment.
Perhaps this is a sign that I'm slowly developing my photographic intuition.


1. Hopes and Dreams. (50mm, f/1.4, 250 ISO, 1/500th sec)

Ironically both these shots provide quite a literal take on the "negative space" theme being an empty jar and an empty chair. But (I hope) they also use the negative space around the subjects to help communicate the shots' meanings.
Following on from Matthew's initiative to go beyond straight photographs, I added elements to this 2nd shot in an attempt to further help tell a story. Maybe it works? Maybe it doesn't...


2. Gone. (50mm f/1.4, 250 ISO, 1/250th sec)

[matthew]

Hi Kombi; I really like both of those shots. "Hopes and Dreams" I don't quite get, but I like it just the same. The chair is a fantastic treatment, but the underlying shot is also very well done.

I'm not sure if this qualifies for negative space, but...

[Kombisaurus]

Thanks Matthew.
I do like your shot, but I'm not sure if it counts as negative space either. But that doesn't stop me liking it for what it is. I really like the curved line on the right which makes my brain try to turn the image into a clock reading 5 o'clock. Nice tones, shapes and textures there.

[NT73]

I am not sure that this is negative space, although it is negative to the subject, the space is part of the whole.
I call it the 'Drop-outs door'.

[matthew]

NT, I would say that your photo is a good example of negative space, since the positive space (aka "subject") is well defined and situated by the non-subject space. It's a great photo, and the balance of space is what makes it successful.

My escalator, on the other hand, is a bad example of negative space because it lacks any primary space. Without a subject, there's nothing in it to support. There's no single point of interest and no tension or balance.

Here are a couple more that I took last weekend:

[Schellamo]

My turn, I took this shot at the beach with this assignment in mind

[Polly]

Snailspace.



Pol

[Irma]

Great assignment Matthew... and great pictures all...

Here are some of my favorites where I worked with negative space...

[Schellamo]

I love that first shot of the orange Irma, the textures look great and I love the mono colour

[Irma]

Thanks Schell...

Actually the sepia was a test, but I think it turned out well... I am thinking about working on a series now with some other fruits...