From the course: Photography Foundations: Composition

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Shadows and negative space

Shadows and negative space

From the course: Photography Foundations: Composition

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Shadows and negative space

Hopefully, by now you've gotten the chance to start thinking about light a little bit differently and to understand that light is where it all starts. But shadow is pretty good also. Light and shadow are really the fundamental building blocks of photography, especially black and white photography, and you don't want to ignore dark spaces and shadows. Here, we've got a wonderfully balanced and framed image, because of all of the negative space in this scene. Very often when you are out looking for subject matter, keep your eyes open for tonal differences like this, an area of deep shadow and bright light, you may be able to turn that into an interesting composition. Or if you are shooting something and really have your eyes going and are seeing well, take note of the shadows in the image, don't try to get rid of them, instead try to work with them. It's very easy with the incredible lowlight capabilities of today's digital cameras to think, Wow! Look I can pull detail out of every…

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