EX72 Composing Negative Space
Seeing and composing negative space is a skill. One that can be developed. One that can be practiced. One that is worth revisiting regularly and practicing. It is just like learning to draw. Anyone can learn to draw as it is a set of skills. The ultimate resource for learning to draw for those of you who think it is impossible is Betty Edwards. Her seminal book ‘Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain’ was first published in 1979 and is virtually available in any second hand book shop and new in recent editions everywhere. Honestly it is that well known and loved. I have just discovered Iain McGilchrist’s work about the two brains we have and once I get my head around it I will share it with you.
One of the key elements in learning to draw is learning to see and to switch off that internal dialogue that shapes our thinking.
This exercise is worth practicing regularly. It is something that I will talk about over and over in my presentations. The core of the exercise is how our two brains we with live with and how they can work together and how they often work against each other. This exercise helps to trick one into seeing something else.
Part One
Photograph an upside down object and explore the negative spaces you can create with it. Find something that we know usually and predominantly in the upright position. Turn it upside down and photograph the negative space you can create using it. See how interesting you can make the negative space that your object creates. Post the upside down photograph and the one where you turn it up the other way. This is about seeing the shapes and spaces without your mind interfering with its logic. This exercise won’t work with a symmetrical object. A very common object that we all have is a chair, but you may wish to try other objects as well.
You will need to think about where to put this object in terms of the background, the negative space. Will the negative space be as simple as black or white, or could it be more complex?
This is such a good exercise, go and do it again with something else.
Remember you are playing with and photographing the other spaces created by your object. Your object is purely a secondary component as you compose.
By turning the object upside down we are removing many of the clues our conscious intellect uses to identify and interfere with our visual understanding. We are shifting our focus to negative space. Exploring it, playing with it.
Remember to post the photograph the way you took it first, followed by the one that is rotated.
Part Two
Now go and play with some negative space.
Concentrate on it.
Focus on it, metaphorically.
Explore it.
Remember the concept of “The Tipping Point”? Take something to the extremes, to the point where it doesn’t work any more, to find the point where it works for you.
Post a photograph or two that you have taken for this exercise where you have explored and concentrated on composing the negative space. One where you feel you have gotten the negative space just right.
Post your photographs here
With the continued growth and popularity of Len’s Club our weekly discussions are getting rather long as we try to discuss every photograph. To help those who take the time to create and practice the weekly exercises, we will limit the discussions of photographs to ones that are created for the exercise. Photographs that you created in the past that fit the exercise and are posted will be skipped in future discussions. I am sure that in the future, further changes in the discussions will be made as we continue to grow.
The classroom session to discuss this exercise is on next Friday
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83567720539?pwd=cWpMQWYrcncxbUdDRHc4VWVMdlZwQT09