Negative Space
Advanced Photography Assignment: Week of 2/22-2/26
Hello!
What is Negative Space?
The concept of negative space has to do with compositional balance. Negative space simply means an area of an image that is largely devoid of subject matter. In other words, it’s a blank area like the sky, an expanse of plaster, or the surface of a body of water. Photos 15.1 and 15.2 are good examples of negative space. The white sky behind the mountain lion is considered negative space, as is the cloudy sky above Bled Castle in Slovenia. To be negative space, the area obviously doesn’t have to be a solid color. As you can see from the large expanse of sky, the thick clouds have texture but are essentially without any form that we focus on.
15.1
15.02
The reason artists came up with this idea was to explain why certain types of compositions look good. Consider the photo of the castle in San Marino, photo 15.3. There appears to be no balance here because the architecture is off-center and there is nothing on the left side of the photo that has enough “weight” to balance it. If we ascribe weight to the sky, however, we can then say that the “negative space” provides the required weight that brings the image into balance. In the photo of the topi, (15.4), the out-of-focus background on the left does the same thing. It justifies composing the animal off-center because it provides the balance to make the image compositionally correct.
In a photo like image 15.5, the roseate spoonbill was placed in the center of the frame.
15.5
Negative space can also act as an area of an image that helps to force attention on a subject. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in North Carolina (15.6), for example, is not competing with anything in the background. The sky makes an attractive negative-space background that helps force all the attention on the subject, because there is nothing else to look at in this picture. The eye isn’t confused or distracted. This is one of the most powerful ways to compose a picture. The same technique is used to compose a photo of a crowned crane (15.7), in which the out-of-focus background balances the bird.
15.6
15.7
The idea of using negative space to balance a subject can also work with a surface texture that at first you wouldn’t identify as negative space. For example, the window in Ireland (15.8) was placed off-center so that the rock façade could balance it, and the rocks are actually negative space.
Your Assignment
- Make at least 10 different images paying special attention to the subject and the negative space surrounding it. Use the negative space in your images to make the viewers eye focus on the subject. You can create a variety of images using objects, people or go outside and make landscapes. Have fun and be creative!
- Copy and paste all 10 images (thumbnails) onto one document (you can use Microsoft word or any other program that you are comfortable with).
- Edit your favorite 3 images to turn in.
- Turn in the thumbnails and your favorite three (edited) images to the dropbox.
- Fill out this form and tell us about your images. Negative Space Form