You can make your photos stronger by taking a simple approach to composition.
Simplicity is the photography equivalent of minimalism. It’s a photography composition technique that concentrates on keeping only the absolutely necessary elements in the frame. As a photographer, you need to ask yourself what you really need in the photo in order to tell your story. If all of the elements in your photograph don’t add to the message of your image, you need to figure out a way to remove, or at least minimise, them. |
Notice how much more your eye is drawn to the subject in the right hand picture due to the simplicity of the background behind the bird.
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Negative (or 'dead') space can be useful for this. Negative space is any space behind your subject that doesn’t have any distracting elements in.
The idea is that if the space is 'dead' (or visually empty) it won't catch the viewer’s eye and take their attention away from your focal point. By creating a photo which has lots of negative space it in, you are creating a more simple photograph. This is achieved best with no objects in the background or ones which have one general tone, colour or just one type of texture.
If there are objects in the background they could be unfocussed by using the camera's aperture to achieve a shallow depth of field and therefore they will not distract from your subject. It may seem easy to achieve simplicity in a photograph, but it can take a great deal of planning, experimentation and consideration to achieve what appears at first to be a simple photograph. |
Amber (grade 4-5)
a) Add the title of 'Simplicity' to your site, beneath your work from last lesson. b) Write a brief definition of what Simplicity is and how we can use it in our photography. c) Watch the video to see Simplicity in action. d) Read through the information on this website to further your knowledge of Simplicity: add another sentence below your images based on your research. |
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Task 1:
Watch the video on Minimalist Still Life techniques and consider how you might translate these ideas into your own work. Remember, you are taking a contact sheet's worth of photographs, so you don't have to choose just one object to shoot, you can experiment with a variety of different objects depending on the ideas that you have. |
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Task 3: a) Select your favourite photo and open it in Affinity Photo. b) Crop this image to enhance the composition of your photo. c) Go to Adjustments and make your photograph Black and White. d) Scroll down the Adjustments panel and change the contrast of your photograph using Curves. Drag the line around to alter the highlights and shadows. Try to make your photo as dramatic as you can. e) Export the photo as a PNG or Jpeg with the title 'Simplicity - first edit'. f) Repeat with your second favourite photo and export with the title 'Simplicity - second edit'. |