Minimalism and negative space in your photo

Sunday 30 July 2023, 14:28 by Nando Harmsen | 5,605 views | 8 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Have you ever talked about negative space? Then you were probably talking about an empty area in your photo that takes up a large part of the image. There is a good chance that you were talking about minimalism. An ordinary photo always has negative space too.

Negative space doesn't have to be an empty area.
Without positive space, there is no negative space. Positive space is the part of the photo where your subject is, the point of attention. Negative space is the part that receives little or no attention.

Negative space therefore doesn't have to be empty. It is simply the part that demands little or no attention, which fills out your photo. There must be a balance between positive and negative space for a balanced composition.

A photo with a lot of negative space, nicely balanced with the positive space in the photo, so the photo's look gives the feeling I was looking for.
Simply showing an empty photo is not what negative space is about. Do you have a photo that mainly looks empty? Is there a subject that takes up a small part of the image? Then you are talking about minimalism. A photo that says a lot by showing little.

This is minimalism, where the negative space is actually empty or almost empty.
Always make sure there is a good balance between positive and negative space in your photo. Not only in the ratio between positive and negative, but also in the distribution of areas. In other words, you still need to create a good composition.

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About the author

Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.

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8 comments

Bart wrote on Tuesday 1 August 2023 at 13:30 | reply
A bit of an unfortunate explanation. That negative space is what gets little or no attention. Filler. Negative space is precisely what strengthens the positive space, the subject, if it does not determine it already. The space around and between subjects largely determines the composition, just as the silence between the notes determines the music. In my view, it is instructive to see (and photograph) negative space.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Thursday 3 August 2023 at 10:00 | reply
True, dismissing negative space as filler is a bit oversimplified. It is indeed the interplay that matters.
But I find photographing negative space poorly worded. You don't photograph negative space, but you photograph the subject and create your composition in which you place the negative space optimally in your photo.
Negative space cannot be the subject, after all.
Translated from Dutch.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Wednesday 2 August 2023 at 13:35 | reply
Bart, I agree with you. You hit the nail on the head.
Translated from Dutch.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Thursday 3 August 2023 at 10:24 | reply
'Negative space as the subject is not possible after all', is a statement that could also be called too simplistic. As a photographer, you can choose to include a large negative space in your composition. Precisely to express the loneliness of the subject in the positive space.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Thursday 3 August 2023 at 10:55 | reply
Read your comment again carefully, especially the last sentence, Donald. You put it correctly: using negative space to express the loneliness of the subject. Negative space is therefore not a subject.
Translated from Dutch.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Thursday 3 August 2023 at 11:16 | reply
Nando, my argument was precisely to start from the negative space when creating a composition and not from the subject. It has happened before that I deliberately enlarged the negative space in Ps.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Thursday 3 August 2023 at 11:26 | reply
Take a critical look at your own way of seeing. I expect that you always first look for a subject to depict and then determine how you portray it. Your own description points to that.
Translated from Dutch.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Thursday 3 August 2023 at 11:55 | reply
That's true, Nando, but that doesn't change the fact that my attention is mainly focused on the negative space. That negative space is very important for telling the story of the photo.
Translated from Dutch.

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