Minimalist art, as an art movement, originated in the 1950s and 1960s and aimed to limit the number of visual elements. Minimalism was also introduced in photography. Minimalism in landscape photography is a concept that requires little effort to understand fully and challenges the viewer.
Minimalism is reducing the image to its essentials. The focus is entirely on the subject; you are drawn into the image like a magnet. Despite there being little to see, you keep looking at it. What is the secret of a solid minimalist image? It is an exciting composition, with the most beautiful light and the proper technique. The image should also tell a story about you as a photographer, making your photos personal, unique, and powerful.
Making minimalistic images is not always easy. The idea was to show a certain feeling without sacrificing details, meaning many traditional rules were thrown overboard. One wants to create an image with a particular visual element: line, shape, colour tone, pattern, or texture. A good example is dune parties without a horizon.
Minimalism is a simple concept, although much more is involved than not having much in your frame. When taking a minimalist approach in landscape photography, you should consider the following topics: subject choice, subject placement, negative space, isolation, and colour.
Simplifying your landscapes
Minimalist photography usually consists of as few elements as possible, sometimes just one subject against a simple background. Colour contrast can make minimalist photography very powerful and make it stand out. Sometimes, leaving out colour (black and white) can make the picture even stronger. Negative space can also be used positively. Texture can also become the subject when used as a frame-filling element or a repeating pattern, both of which can be found in nature.
The first and most important compositional rule is keeping it simple. Of course, we want the image to be simple, interesting, and meaningful to the viewer.
Simplifying also means removing distracting elements. The less cluttered the image, the more accessible it is for the viewer to understand and connect. As a photographer, you decide the main idea and what is necessary to convey it. Everything else should be excluded.
The landscape is still recognisable in my landscapes and black-and-white long exposures. I ask myself: How far can one simplify an image and still be able to call it a landscape? Please have a look at my blog on fine art photography.
Specific locations, such as coastal scenes, dunes, deserts, and agricultural fields, lend themselves to a minimalist approach. They offer large expanses of uniform background, perhaps interrupted by the occasional post, bridge, or tree.
Negative space
Negative space (the space around the main subject) can be used positively. Even when small, the subject should be the most potent element of the image, and the proper use of negative space must enhance its significance.
Negative space allows you to create an image with a dramatic feel. It attracts a viewer to the image and then leads their eyes towards the smaller area of positive space. The subject will be more prominent when surrounded by the right amount of negative space.
Texture can also become the subject when used as a frame-filling element or a repeating pattern, both of which are found in nature.
Composition in minimal landscape photos
Single-point compositions that consist of the subject (occupying a tiny part of the frame) and plenty of negative space work very well. In photography, the simplest form is an isolated object in a plain background—a boat on the sea or a bird in the sky, seen from a distance.
This photo has a single-point composition and contains a lot of negative space. With a single subject, there is the opportunity to create bold compositions.
When composing a scene, always pay extra attention to the edges of the frame and keep them clean. Removing them in post-processing is a perfect option if you cannot avoid specific objects. Photoshop has several tools to do so.
If you must put your elements on the side, give them room to breathe.
One exciting way to achieve a minimal image is to use long exposure. This technique has particular advantages and can significantly help photographing waterscapes or skyscapes. Of course, it only works if you have moving objects in your image, like water and clouds. It removes any details from the background, creating a plain canvas on which our subject is placed.
Since excluding part of the scene is our primary goal, using a telephoto lens is an obvious solution. By narrowing the field to be captured, we can exclude many unnecessary elements from the frame, which would have been included if a wide lens had been used.
Choose an appropriate angle of view. By shooting a tree from a low point of view, for example, we can project it on a plain background—the sky. If more trees are behind your tree, it will not show off or go unnoticed.
Placing the subject in more extreme positions, such as the centre or edge of the frame, can create a more dynamic look to an image. Rules can be broken. But be aware that deviating too far from the traditional rule of thirds will often disturb the eye and look inharmonious. You will have to find out what works and what does not.
Eliminating colour
Another way to simplify is by eliminating or at least reducing the intensity of the colours. There are good reasons for removing colour, too. Intense colours have one dynamic—creating emotions, contrast, and visual intensity—that is extraneous to the essence of our object.
Abstracting the image from reality and removing unnecessary details, associations, and feelings connected with colours is a critical tool in the minimalist arsenal.
Using a limited number of complementary colours (opposite to each other on the colour wheel, like yellow and blue) can also be successful in minimalist landscape or cityscape compositions.
Make it square?
Use the square format where possible because of its inherent qualities of simplicity and balance. Themes that best fit the square format are those with multiple axes or repeated objects (patterns). Other themes that fit well in the square frame are symmetrical and radial objects because of their implied visual centre and equal sides.
Conclusion about Minimalism in Landscape Photography
Besides using some techniques, photographing minimalist landscapes requires that you look at the world from a minimalist viewpoint as you strip your surroundings of all ballast.
The art of photography is knowing how much to exclude. You can’t photograph the entire world” -Eliot Porter-
I’m interested to hear your views on this.
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