Three Easy Exercises to Kick Start Your Journey into Minimalism
Lesson 16 from: Minimalist PhotographyCurtis Jones
Three Easy Exercises to Kick Start Your Journey into Minimalism
Lesson 16 from: Minimalist PhotographyCurtis Jones
Lesson Info
16. Three Easy Exercises to Kick Start Your Journey into Minimalism
Lessons
Introduction
01:41 2Minimalism - A Few Words to Start
01:31 3The Power of Negative Space
12:08 4Learn to See Visual Clutter
08:40 5Isolating Your Anchor
05:47 6Composing for Better Minimalist Photographs
09:27 7Choosing Gear to Create Minimalist Photographs
13:16 8Black and White the Classic Approach
08:41Working With Color
09:06 10Location Session - Apex Beach
11:50 11Apex Beach - Wrap Up
02:24 12Timing and Weather
08:24 13Common Traps and How to Avoid Them
10:29 14Post-Processing - When I Use it and Why?
17:41 15Print Your Work and Harness the Power of Minimalism
02:13 16Three Easy Exercises to Kick Start Your Journey into Minimalism
02:55 17Location Session - Sled Dog Portrait
04:05 18Sled Dog Portrait Image Review
07:34 19Sled Dog Portrait Key Takeaway
03:33 20Location Session - Arctic Drone Flight
05:14 21Arctic Drone Flight Image Review
06:36 22Arctic Drone Flight Key Takeaways
03:31 23Snowkiting In the Canadian Arctic - Location Session
06:07 24Snowkiting Image Review
08:32 25Snowkiting Key Takeaways
02:52 26Summary
03:08 27Wrap-up
01:18Lesson Info
Three Easy Exercises to Kick Start Your Journey into Minimalism
Okay guys, here are three easy exercises that I want you guys to try out. If you want to kick start your journey and minimalism photography number one really simple. Clean up your image, get out there, find a clean backdrop, a blank wall, a white fence and open field, a big sky. And then I want you to place your subject in that scene and then work your perspective or your angle so that your subject Is nice and unobstructed and there's no visual clutter and they're just simply set against a blank backdrop exercise. # two, we're gonna take it up a couple of notches here and I want you to create three images here, just using the same subject. We're gonna go back to that idea of that balance between positive and negative space and playing with that dynamic. So, I want image number one Of your subject doesn't matter what the subject is. It can be a boot or a bike or a person or a dog. And this first picture is gonna be a nice even split of what you consider to be 50% positive space and 50% ...
negative space. So 50% of your boot bike or dog, and 50% of that clean environment around it. The second image, Same subject. And this time I want you to shoot it so that it's mostly negative space. So 80 or 90% negative space. 10 or 20% of that. It's gonna be your boot or your bike or your dog. And then the final one, you guessed it is the opposite. It's gonna be mostly positive space. So mostly 80 90% or dog or bike. And then 10 or 20% of this is gonna be negative space. That clean visual area. And the final exercise guys is actually gonna be the hardest one. And it was for me anyways, and that's uh that that age old art school sort of uh exercise where you have to see the space between the subject. So I want you to shoot the space and not the subject. And I know that sounds weird. It's like an art class where they would tell you to to draw the space around the chair or around the plant and not the plant itself. And then somehow after 20 minutes you look down and it's a plant and it's a chair and you never really drew it. It's a little bit like that. So go out and find just look for spaces and things. Gaps, openings don't be so worried about the subject. It doesn't matter what the subject is, the subject would be light and shadow. It doesn't it doesn't matter at all. Just shoot the space and uh it's not gonna be instantly recognisable. But the more you go out and practice and the more you start looking for it, the easier it is to see. And then you're gonna start noticing it intentionally when you really want to create and work with subjects that you actually want to shoot. That's it for the exercises. I want to see what you guys come up with. You don't have to do these exercises but I still want to see the minimalist shots. But if you do happen to do them, please post them here or send them to me. There's contact information at the end of this class. I want to see what you guys get up to and let me know. I'm not just crazy person talking at the camera. Good luck.
Ratings and Reviews
user-3b9448
This is a brilliant course which I can highly recommend. I have done some Minimalist photography but still found the lessons very interesting. I enjoyed the discussion on colour vs. B&W. My favourite part was to learn how long it takes to plan a shoot, wait for the right conditions, even change the subject if the initial idea doesn't work and see the other images taken during the shoot before (or after) the final image. The presentation is excellent - love the cat :-).
Bradley Wari
Great Job! Great course! loved the bloopers, had a few laughs. I really enjoyed how he showed a little of how he worked the scene of a few of his images. showing multiple images and how he got to THE shot.
Deb Williams
Great class, good length and easy to follow along. A fantastic way to challenge yourself to look at composition differently and a course full of useful tips to try out.