In the second version of the image, the large area of negative space on the right has been cropped off. For example, if one is drawing a plant, they would draw the space in-between the leaves, not the actual leaves. Instead of focusing on drawing the actual object, for a negative space drawing, the focus is on what's between the objects. This space gives the man space to walk into while remaining in the frame. Negative space in art, also referred to as 'air space', is the space around and between objects. There is quite a bit of negative space to the right of the subject in the first version of the image. The two versions of an image below illustrate how the balance of positive and negative space affects an image. If there is too little negative space, the focus of the photograph might not be what was intended. Positive space and negative space work together to achieve balance in a composition. If there is too much negative space, the subject may be lost in the frame. There are many ways in which positive and negative space are balanced in a photograph to achieve an appealing composition. This is a misconception though because too much or too little positive or negative space can make or break a photograph. Use colored pencils or markers to fill in the shapes, indicating a specific pattern of positive and negative space. Positive space refers to the objects in the frame and negative space is the space between and around the objects in the frame.Īt first, it may seem like negative space isn’t that important because it’s just the space surrounding the focus of the photograph. On a piece of graph paper, draw squares, triangles, rectangles, diamonds or a combination of these shapes that cover the area without leaving spaces or gaps, just like a tile-covered floor. Positive space and negative space are terms that are commonly used in art and photography that have to do with composition.

Define positive and negative space