Tag: 1st Battalion of the Royal Welsh

July’s theme / technique: Being Creative with Space

The six visual keys to a great photograph are:

• • Patterns
  • Texture
  • Lines
  • Light
  • Depth of field
  • Space

Being Creative with space. Space is a difficult one to explain in photography. When is it too much? When is it not enough? Generally speaking it refers to the empty or negative space around your subject. Usually sky or water or some bland background.

• • If the subject is looking away from the camera leave space for your subject to look into – this creates a sense of mystery.
  • The same applies in an active shot where an animal or a bird or a person is moving. This requires space to move into whether running, jumping, walking or flying. Leaving empty space creates a more dynamic scene.
  • Empty space can create an air of mystery. A story.
  • Create three dimensional space by shooting for a broad range of tones, from bright highlights to dark shadows, and varying shades in between.

This week's assignment - find a subject and try to create a dynamic scene. Then break the rule and create some tension in your photograph (such as a person staring at the edge of the frame / walking out of the frame / tightly cropped inside the frame). Try comparing the two scenes to see which works the best. Empty space or not?

These photos come from the time when the 1st Battalion Royal Welsh were given the freedom of the town of Ludlow along with Taffy the regimental goat.

The first image is of the soldiers marching towards me in the market square. With quite a bit of space for them to walk into.

Next shot is of them approaching much closer to where I was standing. Here the soldiers on the right still have room to move, but Taffy and his handler are almost walking out of the frame.

And a final shot when the space around them is very tight.

Which is your favourite?

If you would like to join in with the 2020 photo challenge then please take a look at my 2020 Photo Challenge page. No complicated rules, just a camera required 🙂

• • Create your own post with some information about how you composed the shot.
  • Include a link to this page in your post so others can find it too
  • Add the tag #2020PhotoChallenge so everyone can find your entry easily in the WP Reader
  • Get your post(s) in by the end of the month, as the new theme comes out on the first Sunday in August.