365 ~ May 16th ~ 22nd

Posted in 365, Fuji, FujiX-T2, photography, UncategorizedTagged , , , ,

This week we are concentrating on Negative Space for compositions.

From The Ladies ~ What is negative space?  Negative space is the space between, within and surrounding an object in an image.  It will often form a secondary image or symbol. The positive space is the focus of the image, the object itself, but the negative space is just as important. You can have a lot of negative space or just a little, that is up to you.  This week, however, we are thinking about  negative space so let’s make it bigger.

This week has not had as many annoyances as usual, which is annoying in itself because who doesn’t love a good grumble? Not me for sure!

Day 136 ~ Modern. ~ I think that the stormtroopers are modern and using black and white photography is regarded as modern as well. (This ladies example was 3 lego stormtroopers) So what are you going to photograph that is modern?  Think portrait, art, urban…just remember that negative space!

This one came straight to mind, as I think listening to music on a smart phone is very modern. I however am not, and listen to music on a hifi system in glorious surround sound, proper like.

modern

Day 137 ~ Harmony. Simply put, negative space is the space surrounding the positive space!  Okay…. how simple is that?    The negative space acts as the ‘breathing room’ for your eyes.  But today you are also going to photograph something harmonious in that negative space.  That’s the complex part!  Or is it?Harmony can refer to the pleasing arrangement of parts.  It can also be an interweaving of different accounts into a single narrative.   I thought about how harmonious my country life and my city life are and photographed myself in socks and overalls putting on stilettos.  The two things certainly add up in my life. Find some items in your life that are harmonious and photograph them using negative space. You might want to try a flat lay, or a still life or find something in nature!  Find the negative space and the items will find you! All that space will draw your eye right to where it is supposed to go!  Have fun with this today!  I sure did.

Well dear reader you can probably guess who put this one up. Mrs. Leathers-Coctail Dress strikes again. I am not certain socks, overalls and stilettos are a great look, but then I wouldn’t go climbing in a cocktail dress either. And Harmony? Haven’t we done that in the last sodding selfie week?? Oh well, it wasn’t too hard, I decided to pair analogue and digital photography into my shot, as I’m all harmonious with both forms.

Harmony

Day 138 ~ Number ~ Today we combine Numbers and Negative Space! Be on the look out for numbers as you go through your day! You might be surprised where you find them… in my case I found a few floating by! Remember to give your image plenty of space for the subject to stand out and catch the viewers attention. Happy searching today! 

Today was a work day, so no time to go searching, but all our units in the converted farmhouse where I work have number plaques next to the doors, so I chose unit 4 as it’s the only one that has a fair amount of space by it.

number

Day 139 ~ Prompt Free Day ~ Prompt Free Days often bring to mind the saying, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” Some days, we feel restricted by the prompt, but on other days, no specific prompt makes us feel lost by having no point of departure.Think about these prompt free days as a check-in as to how this project is changing you. What do you notice that you would have overlooked previously? What small moments in YOUR day now feel bigger and call to be documented?Today is a blank canvas for which all of the other prompts have prepared you.Keep your eyes open and have fun!

As you know by now, this is usually a shoot the cat day for me, but I decided to make an arty farty picture instead. I have some lovely daisy type flower thingies in a pot in the garden so took a few photo’s of them, and combined 3 that I liked in photoshop, did some layering & blending and faffing about and came up with this.

art farty flower

Day 140 ~ Shade ~ Using negative space in photography can be such a great way to isolate your subject and put your focus exactly where you want it to be.   Today’s prompt is shade.  I decided to create my own shade and use my shadow as my subject.  I set my camera up outside on a sunny day and positioned myself so that my shadow, holding a bouquet of tulips was at the edge of the frame creating shade on the driveway.  The negative space of the driveway on the right of the photo makes your eye immediately go towards the darker part, the shadow.  You can create your own shade as I’ve done or you can take your photo in the shade.  Shade can provide nice even light for your photo, especially on a bright sunny day. If it’s not sunny in your part of the world, you can use any number of light sources to create shade for your photo.   How can you use negative space in your shade to draw your eye to the subject of the photo? Have fun in the shade! 

Well this one did annoy me. It rained all the day long, dark grey clouds that are still hanging about even now. So no, it’s not sunny in my part of the world, it rarely is! So I went a bit left field and decided a lampshade is a shade.

shade

Day 141 ~ Grounded. ~ Have you noticed this week that putting negative space around your subject really makes it stand out. Today’s prompt is “grounded” I put my subject on the ground and composed used leading lines as well as negative space to draw you to it. You can place your subject on the ground, look for something that is ground level, or just show us what keeps you grounded. Whatever you decide, make sure you have negative space around it!

Another annoying prompt. It was still chucking it down like stair rods here, so I was not venturing outside to put anything on the ground. I don’t count indoors as having a ground, it has floors, so was left with the psychobabble ‘what keeps you grounded’ bit. WTH does that mean anyway? I don’t go around feeling all grounded or even ungrounded, but I was reminded of coffee beans so I grounded some to make a nice cup of latté.

grounded

Day 142 ~ Pose. ~ When we think about the word pose, we usually think about how we can best place people in the frame.  And usually when we are positioning people in the frame, our intent is to fill the frame with the beautiful faces that we are photographing.  But, does this have to be the case?In this photo, my daughter and her husband occupy just a tiny portion of the frame and the focus on them is soft.  And, the negative space around them is not completely negative.  Why?  Because that was the best way to tell the story they wanted told.  The “negative space” is the wall of one of their favorite coffee shops and the words speak to them.  Most of us, however, are drawn to the human element of a photo first.  (My son-in-law’s red shirt helps with this.)  They are posed exactly where they should be for this story.  As you take today’s photo, try to use negative space around your posed subject to add a subtle layer of detail to your photo’s story.

Well normally I’d use Phil for this kind of shot, but somehow neither of us was in the mood for going out, so I shot Lord Vincent instead, who posed nicely for me on the sofa in the conservatory before he went a-roaming. Plenty of negative space between his ears. 🙂

Pose.

And that’s a wrap for this week. I think I’m winning at negative space, but a week of it is enough. Stay tooned for next week as guess what!? It’s sodding selfie week. Kill me now.

49 thoughts on “365 ~ May 16th ~ 22nd”

  1. I wonder if it means anything that in pictures like this our eye is drawn up and to the right. I remember a psychology experiment where they said that’s where our comfort zone is. Stuff going on to our left makes us nervous.
    Vince seems to be enjoying his elevation to the peerage.

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  5. Lord Vincent looks like me after having to endure Dix’s ramblings. Some great shots this week as per usual – I love modern. You’ve really captured something there. And Shinedown are nothing compared to the Shiwbiz Kids!

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  6. space between, within and surrounding an object

    I think it was very apropos that they mentioned storm troopers because when I read that sentence my first thought was “Oh, the Force is Negative Space”. Gave myself a good laugh first thing in the morning.

    I might have asked this before but can’t remember. Do you use strictly digital, film or a combination of them?

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        1. Different styles I guess. Film slows you down, only 36 frames on a roll, so you need to really think about what you are doing so as not to waste it, it’s not cheap to develop a roll! Digital you can shoot all around a subject to your hearts content and delete what you don’t want. I like the differences.

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  8. I never thought about negative space in a photo. I’m learning so much following your blog–in addition to enjoying the stunning photos every week.
    Another great collection, but your arty farty flower and grounded really stood out for me. And Lord Vincent looks kingly!

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  13. Wonderful as always. Shade is by far my favorite this week – a creative interpretation of the prompt and a fabulous photo. But I also like Grounded and Harmony and … well, all of them. So fun to see what you come up with!

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  15. I’ve run out of superlatives, but you’ve definitely won this week. Modern is my favourite and I don’t listen to music on my phone either. I recognised Mrs Harley-Davison and now I’m wondering about the size of her stilettoes if she can put them on over a pair of socks.

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  19. You are hard to please, getting annoyed because to aren’t annoyed (not much) by this week’s challenges. 🙂 I think you always have a surprise up your sleves for most challenges, making something different than the expected. Which I enjoy. And like you, I’d rather enjoy music on a good hi-fi system…

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