Cornered, with Seth Resnick

Today almost everyone owns a camera. And, yes, the process of taking a picture has become so simple that even a child can do it. But it takes a truly special vision to capture the world in a graphically brilliant manner in 1/500 of a second. So over the years I have picked up many photographic exercises that I regularly practice, and that I teach my students to keep them in good visual shape and make them better photographers. Here’s one of my favorites.

Triangles in the Corners
When we are attracted to a subject we tend to look towards the center of the viewfinder and rarely pay attention to the periphery. It is in the periphery where we find the things that detract from the image. It may be the branch sticking in, or a pattern of color. As an exercise when you are framing an image take your eyes and glance to the periphery in the viewfinder. Look for triangles being formed, and if you see them it is a good indication that you need to move in tighter on your subject.

If you have a triangle in the corner of one of your images and want to determine if it adds to the photograph or detracts from it, cover up everything except the triangle. If the triangle is important, keep it in. More than likely, though, the triangle will be an area of black or white or a branch and by itself is anything but a good image. In this case crop the image and remove the triangles.

Space is defined and determined by shapes and forms. Positive space is where shapes and forms exist; negative space is the empty space around shapes and forms. For images to have a sense of balance use positive and negative space to counter balance each other.

Learn more from Seth in person at his workshop in Santa Fe

How to Create Killer Images
with Seth Resnick
July 10 - July 16, 2011

Visit his web site to see what he's up to: www.sethresnick.com