Every Tuesday I bring you a tidbit of information meant to help you enhance your photography or, simply, your appreciation of photography. This week’s tidbit: using empty (negative) space in your photographs.
Maybe it’s my love of movies influencing me here, but I LOVE empty space in photographs. You see it all the time in widescreen movies–a close up a person never fills the frame…there’s always a bit of empty space to the right or left of the person. Now, obviously this has something to do with the distinct aspect ratio (the ratio of the width and height of an image…essentially, the shape of the frame) of motion pictures (1.85:1 in American movies). If you tried to fill a frame with a person’s face in this aspect ratio, you’d end up with something like this (which isn’t exactly….er….nice looking):
But what about photographs? We can crop images and frame them as needed, we don’t NEED that empty space, right? Well…..
Negative space is powerful
Empty (negative) space in a photograph does two things: 1) gives a subject space to move in the frame and/or 2) creates drama.
But subjects don’t *move* in still images, right?
Well, no, they don’t, not technically. But take the image below:
Obviously Eric’s frozen in midair. But we can all envision what the image would look like if it had been taken a split second later–he’d be landing on the ground to the right of Marita. By composing the image with space in the frame, it removes the unconscious discomfort we’d feel if we looked at an image without enough space for Eric to “land”.
Ok, so what about the drama?
By opening up the image to more negative space, you can create a sense of excitement and intrigue (basically the “hey, cool” factor) for more dramatic images. The image on the left is just sorta ho-hum….take several steps back to include more of the negative space around the subject and you get “hey, cool” results.
In the next image, both space for movement and drama exist. The negative space to the right of Cat gives her space to “look” at what she’s laughing at (as opposed to boxing her in); the negative space also creates impact by drawing the viewer’s eye directly towards the subject.
In everything, balance is key
Just as we have negative space, we also have positive space. In the example above, Cat–the subject–is the positive space. By incorporating negative space around the positive space (Cat), it balances the photo, creating a sense of harmony to the viewer.
Happy shooting from your San Diego wedding photographers Vantage Photography!
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