Negative Space: Find It, Make It, Use It

Negative Space

The two main tips on starting underwater photography are Get Close and Shoot Upwards. The idea being that the closer you get, the less the water interferes with the image. By shooting upwards there is a better chance of increasing the impact of subject by separating it from a messy background.

Those two elements of guidance, especially the latter, can go a long way to improving image-making. But there comes a point for many underwater photographers where images become all a bit routine - yet another fish portrait?

A FRESH APPROACH

I hit this plateau some years back whilst running a dive resort in the Lembeh Straits. Just how many xxxxfish/seahorse shots could I take? I wanted fresh ideas. A fresh approach. I wanted to create something that wasn’t a fish portrait. A resort guest, a very talented underwater photographer, pointed me in the direction of using “negative space”.  What?

Negative space is “a term used in art to describe the space surrounding a subject. Also called white space, it is typically empty and lacks details as to simplify an image. Negative space surrounds positive space in a work of art”.

“Typically empty” and “lacks details” are the key elements. A blank canvas. So how do you find or create “negative space”?

A very simple example: if you shoot upwards, into the blue, you have lots of negative space - the whole ocean. Lighting can be tricky but is manageable.

SEARCHING FOR NEGATIVE SPACE

How about searching for a piece of coral that produces effectively a blank canvas? Corals can come in all sorts of interesting colours, shapes and sizes: think, for example, of Elephant Ear corals with their vibrant orange colour. A blank, orange canvas. Then see what lives there, what lies there, what might come on to that canvas and create a visually striking image against the negative space. What about a colourless rock? Or one covered in red algae?

With this technique, you think about the dive in a different way and new ideas emerge: graphical images, images of perhaps only one or two strong and contrasting colours or shapes. The fish portrait starts to disappear and the image becomes one of lines, colours and contrasts. The subject might become an accessory to a strong visual impression.

Try a dive where, instead of going hunting for a subject, you go hunting for a good negative space, a canvas, and see what might be there or, with patience, what might show up. Take some time to weigh-up the canvas: angles, colours, contrasts…. you might end up spending the whole dive in only one or two spots.

CREATING NEGATIVE SPACE

Inevitably though some dives sites just don’t offer negative space. So create your own. There are several ways.

Using the widest aperture setting, so reducing depth of field, can turn a fussy background into a creamy, indistinguishable canvas. This is using the “bokeh” effect beloved of portrait photographers. This works very well if shooting low and upwards. (I can recommend 45-degree viewfinder for this!) and for subjects that are parallel to the camera sensor rather than being at right angles.

Or the opposite: a fast shutter speed will reduce the amount of light the camera sees and turn the background into that classic black canvas. Or maybe not quite so fast and get a mid or dark blue canvas. Rather than shoot at, say 1/100, try 1/250 or the fastest your camera can sync with the strobes. High Speed Synchronisation - HSS - equipped strobes and triggers are a major bonus allowing much higher shutter speeds.

Or use a snoot. Snoots are a great way of concentrating light onto a subject. A negative space is then created in the shape of a black or unlight canvas for the areas the snoot does not light.

SEE THE DIFFERENCE

Hunt for negative spaces, play around with these techniques and you may well find a whole new style of diving and a whole new way of image-making. Images which are strong graphically or in their simple and contrasting colours. And if that doesn’t work, you can always go back to fish portraits.

A fast shutter speed creates a black canvas

A red canvas of algae

A wide aperture creates a blurry background

Coral creates a canvas for a graphical image