The Triple Split

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

This Minimalism as Less Elements Minimalist Photo, is a corner shot of a building taken during a sunny afternoon. The light and shadow games played by nature, are always interesting and this photo is a great example of it. Look at how beautifully the shadow of the lamp got split by three lines. 

I spotted this Triple Split near the Akshardham temple in Vaishali Nagar. 

This photo has depth and dimension and therefore is way better than flat photos. You may try and include more depth by getting really creative with angles. The highlights, as you can see are quite bright and some portion has lost a bit of detail. It is actually just on the limits. A step further and the details would be lost completely. Why I did this? to make the shades of gray stand out amonsgt each other and to show clearly the light and shadow differential.

Other Minimalist Photos taken at Akshardham Temple, Jaipur

- Blessed by the Curve

- Hypnotic Tree

Minimalist Photography Video Part - I

A collection of select Minimalist Photos, please leave your feedback or share to promote this genre 

of photography.   

                  

  

Minimalist Photography Video Part - I

Also See:

- Minimalist Photography Video Part - II

- Minimalist Photography Video Part - III

- Types of Minimalism 

Bird Vs Lines

Minimalism as in Small Objects

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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A Black and White Minimalist Photo of a Bird sitting on the wall, with lines complimenting it.

Shot at Jawahar Kala Kendra - Jaipur, using two colored walls to show contrasts , later turned into a Black and White Minimalist Photograph. 

This has been captured from a distance, so that the size of the Bird appeared very small, making it a perfect fit for the "Minimalism as in Small Objects" category of Minimalism.

A Word on the Composition.

The bird sitting between two diagonal lines caught my eye to begin with. 

I had to be fast enough, which I was, so that the bird din't fly away during the process of shot composition. Thankfully, the bird stayed long enough. 

This is a Multi-layer shot. There is some distance between the two walls. The light gray one is nearer to the frame and the dark gray one is quite far. I joined these two sections visually and placed the Bird nearly at the intersection of these two walls.

Also, I had to move a lot to my left and right, and I tried various combinations and angles.

Below is a Similar shot from the Same Location:

• Lone Dove

Thank you. Have a Good Day !

Clay Pot

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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This shot was taken at Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, Jaipur. Opposite to Jawahar Kala Kendra, there is a lane that goes towards Jhalana Doongri.

Right at that corner, there are a few kiosks for food, tea and cigarettes. It was a holiday that day. This cigarette shop or "Pan Ki Thadi" (as we call it in Hindi) was located near those food shops. The shop was closed being a holiday and I liked the Pink Shutter of it a lot.

Just next to this Pan Shop, there was a handmade clay pottery shop. One of the clay pots was set aside, maybe because it was broken from the bottom and was found idle right in front of the Closed Pan Shop.

The Isolated Clay Pot contrasted so well against the pink shutter of the closed Pan Shop that I had to stop and take a shot of it. I went down on my knees for this one.

Also note that there is an abstract shadow triangle on the left and the three simple vertical lines on the closed shop shutter, adds brilliantly to the frame.

I did try a black and white version of this shot and posted it on my Facebook timeline but later, I reverted to the original irresistible Pink.

The Photo falls under Minimalism as Less Elements category of Minimalist Photography.

Click here to learn the Other Types: Types of Minimalism in Photography

More Minimalist Photos containing Pink:

• Pink Staircase

   

• Tapering In 

   

• Brass Water Tap on Pink Indian Wall with Subtle Texture

Light Shadow and Lines

Minimalism as Less Elements

Minimalist Photography using the contrast between light and shadows. The intent of shooting in black and white is, to draw attention to the lines, enhance focus on the patterns, and to bring out the intricacies amonsgst the elements in the frame as a whole. Art that nature creates through light and shadows, hold a very special significance. They appear for a moment and until you are there at the same place, the same time, with the same camera settings, you could probably can never repeat the shot. The dark wall you see on the left was red in color and the white on the right was yellow. You need good color contrasts, in order to make the photo look good in black and white. The Less Elements parts of the photo is, that all lines i.e the simple geometry, in totality is considered as "one element", the second supporting element being, light and shadow. This could very well be categorized under Minimalism as Simple Geometry too, it all depends on what the photographer wants to show.

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

Minimalist Reflection of Street Light

Minimalism as Less Elements

There is only one element in the frame i.e the reflection of street light, in the puddle of stagnant water. The subject is placed on the bottom right corner so as to follow the rule of thirds. A lot of negative space has been left on the top, to make the eye wander in the frame and find the subject eventually. Such compositions are very tricky, and you only get them right with loads of practice. Shooting water reflections could take hundreds of wrong photos. I spotted this arrangement after looking over at about 10-12 water puddles. You have to bend down everytime, move 360 degrees around it to check what can be spotted in it. Once you find the right subject in the puddle, try various angles and combinations, by varying the degrees at which that you bend. 

Photo By © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

School Bus

 Minimalism as Less Elements

Minimal Art Photography using the back-light of a School Bus as a subject. This is a close-up shot and hence it eliminates the extra elements from the frame and there is clear emphasis on the geometry of the back-light. Next time, when you are out on a photo-walk, try to locate a stationery school bus for a similar shot. It depends what colors you find on it. School buses are usually full of vibrant colors and one could compose a lot of minimalist frame from it. But please make sure that the bus isn't parked on the main road with traffic on it. What happens is, that you would look back once for traffic and then get immersed in the shot. And therefore you may end up taking unnecessary risk. As a photographer I believe, that safety always comes first. Life (howsoever it may be good or bad for someone) is still, very precious. Always exercise caution while shooting. Good luck.

Photo By © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

The Window

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

This shot was kept a little under exposed on purpose and was taken at City Palace - Jaipur. I had to do a lot of editing here. I adjusted the highlights, exposure, levels and had to crop it many a times to get the final image the way I wanted. Black and white editing is not easy. You need to also understand the 0-255 range. I wish I had a larger size uploaded for this image but to balance out the composition I had to do what I did. As as regular practice, I always add a small buy link under each photo. This one too has that button. I have tied-up with Pixels.com (earlier Fine Art America) for making my photos available for worldwide shipping. I love their service and have sold 50+ photos and some merchandise so far. The sales are good. Please click on small "Buy Now" link to browse more of my works. Thank you, I wish you a nice day and I send you greetings all the way from Jaipur, India.

Note: I am editing/updating this post after about 2 years. Original post date is 20.08.2014 and today it is 10.05.2016. Blogging is not that easy and maintaining and updating the blog on a regular basis is even tougher. I look forward for your feedback. In case you do end up reading this, please leave some comments below.

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

The Diamond Stone

Minimalism as Less Elements

This is a close-up shot of a diamond stone from an Indian house wall. Such stones are carved out meticulously by hand by workers using traditional Indian cutting tools. Very few workers do this now and this stone art is probably in its last days. Ok, back to the composition. The shot was taken in the afternoon. The light and shadow differential formed a triangle on the left.The texture of the stone adds a lot of beauty to the shot. It is an extreme close up. It reminds me of this famous quote by Robert Capa ( a Hungarian photo journalist), “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

Pink Staircase

Minimalism as Simple Geometr

Photo by ©Prakash Ghai
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This shot was taken in the basement parking of a shopping mall. The pink wall and shadows caught my attention.

The lines and geometry were fascinating to look at and to top that, the color palette was absolutely stunning.

Staircases are anyways a favorite Minimal Subject for me and I am always on the lookout for them.

But there is one thing to remember here. Please do not get carried away and include way too much detail in the frame. Because then the shot actually becomes Maximally Minimal.

Alright, there does exist a category by the name of "Maximalism or Maximally Minimal Art" but, in Minimalism it is always ideal to be more "Minimally Minimal" than being "Maximally Minimal".

On a lighter note, If I have still not confused you, you need not subscribe to my blog.

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Also have a look at more Pink Minimal Shots below:-

• Brass Water Tap on Pink Indian Wall with Subtle Texture 

• Tapering In 

• Clay Pot

Unkempt Indian Wall

Minimalism as Few Distinctive Colors

Contrasting colors on an old textured unkempt Indian wall in Jaipur. Walls are one of my favorites to click. India is full of such multicolored unkempt textured walls. You can find them almost anywhere. The highlight of the composition is the placement of the blue rectangle on the top left corner. It lifts the entire image single handed. That nail in the center wanted to grab some attention as well but, he is probably having a bad day. This shot falls under the minimalism category of "Few Distinctive Colors", the colors being, blue, yellow and orange. 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

Stagnant Life

Minimalism Type: Zeroism

This shot was taken at "Jal Dhara" Jaipur, a water recreation park. I went there with a clear focus of shooting only water reflections. And I did find some interesting ones. The yellow color that you see on the left, is that of a building and the blue reflection, is one from the sky above. On the right, it was a little dark and the green that you see is because of the algae in the water. This kind of Minimalism falls under the category "Zeroism". Under this type, the photo may or may not clearly point to something. Also at first glance we may get confused, whether this is water or something else. If we could relate this with something in the real world or with any real world reference, the this probaly would fall under "Minimalism as Low Detail" rather than Zeroism. For more on this type of Minimalism, please go through point h) under Types of Minimalism. How I interpret the photo, is as following. The stagnant nature of the colorful water represents, that all good things have come to a standstill. Life is barely moving forward. The vision is blurry, but still there is hope i.e the Blue color. Blue indicates hope just like the blue sky and vast oceans. And yes hope it is, on which we are all alive.

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

Lines Vs the Triangle Vs the Rectangle

Minimalism as Simple Geometry 

This part belongs to my water cooler that we have placed on our terrace. The black "Rectangle" that you see in the bottom right corner, is the gap between the water cooler and the wall it is taking support on. The cooler is made of thin sheet of malleable metal, hence you see the "Lines" on it, a result of the design. The Triangle on the top right corner, is created by a shadow. Such kind of frame are s rare find, with so many different geometric shapes in it, all at the same time.

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

Good times and the bad

Minimalism as Less Elements

The photo depicts the Contrast of good and bad times experienced by a person in lifetime. We are all at the at the mercy of mother nature. Good times, is the portion on the top highlighted by sunlight, and the bad times is the shadow area. This wall belongs to my neighbor and I just love the texture it has. The shot has been taken from my terrace. It is a very basic composition with very little to explain. Since, it is a light and shadow composition and such compositions are generally hard to expose correctly, one may use the exposure bracketing technique. The primary intention in the photo is to show lines. One may infer it both, Minimalism as Less Elements i.e just lines as a whole acting as one element or Minimal as Simple Geometry i.e lines, again.

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

Interplay of Colors and Geometry

Minimalism as Parts of the Whole

The Interplay of Colors and Geometry captured by clipping out the corner of a door adding mystery to the frame. This was shot at the famous, well not so famous "Badal Mahal" or the Cloud Palace, as entry here is restricted to invitees only and I was very lucky to have got an invite to visit the place. I loved the colors and the contrasts among the doors and walls. This is Minimalism as parts of the whole, where only a part of the door and wall is shown, leaving the rest to the imagination of the viewer. 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

Hope: Black & White Minimalism

Minimalism as Simple Geometry

This is an Opening in the roof of a dark room signifying "Hope", on which we all survive. Sometimes, you have to look up, and not to your right or left, to spot minimalist subjects. The light coming in from the opening caught my attention. I used the wall to its right as a diagonal line running across. I did get some bad highlights but then they are ok to some extent. They are limited only to a small area i.e the extreme white on the edge of the opening. The photo is all about lines and geometry as a whole. Lines are accompanied by the squarish opening and some curves. Next time when you are out on a photo-walk, try and look up, you will definitely find interesting things.

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

The Alphabet Z

Minimalism as Simple Geometry 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai - Buy Now

Shot at Jawahar Kala Kendra - Jaipur. I took the stairs near the Sudarshan Art gallery area and headed straight to the terrace. While I was climbing up the stairs, I saw this Zig-Zag of lines being formed. The formation was only a visual one, as these are in fact the walls of two separate terraces. I thought why not take a multi-layer shot and connect the two walls in the frame. I focused and took a few shots and bang...

I  created an English alphabet "The Alphabet Z" . Also see: Colored Version

When you start shooting multi-layer shots, your creativity as a photographer starts to reach new heights. Experiment, and try and visually connect different things, I am sure you will have a lot of fun.

This is Minimalism as Simple Geometry. Simple geometric shapes being, the three lines.

Repeating Curves

Minimalism as in Repeating Shapes

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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These are curves in repetition, formed by the crease in a cloth exposed to directional sunlight. 

The photo falls under the Minimalist Photography category: Minimalism as in Repeating Shapes. These curves have been made to trend upwards to add a sense of dynamism to the photo. With the light being so bright, it gets extremely difficult to expose the subject in a correct manner. Therefore, I suggest using exposure bracketing mode in the camera.

I also recommend that one should always shoot in the RAW + JPEG mode. With that you can have full control over the shot. If you get the exposure right in the first place, its fine and you have your JPEG ready with you. JPEG's save you the headache and time taken to edit the photograph. But, in case you messed up with exposure, despite the bracketing or even without it, you still have the RAW file at your disposal, which you can almost fully mend in editing.  

Other Posts that include curves:

The Pink Curve

Twins from the Left

Train Your Eyes for Minimalist Photography

Let's say you have decided to give Minimalist Photography a try and you are keen on clicking some Minimalist Photos. The question is where to begin? 

To begin,

You need to train your eyes to see shapes. 

You need to change your "perspective" i.e. the way you look at things. 

Shapes/lines/ geometry is everywhere. They are a part of our everyday lives, but we often forget to notice them.

For example:

• What shape is a birthday cake? Isn't it mostly a square or a circle?
• Even when you cut your birthday cake with a knife, what shape do you cut out ? Don't you cut out triangles ?
• Geometry is everywhere. OK, how about a wrist watch? The most common dial shapes are circular, square, or rectangular.
• How about the plates we use to eat our food in? again circular or square. (the common ones)
• How about  doors and windows? Mostly all doors are rectangular (rather rectangles) and most common window shapes are improvised squares or rectangles. Rectangles, are used the most in everyday life, they are just about everywhere.
• Also, how about the electricity wires you see on the road attached to the poles. Well, those are not electricity wires, for a minimalist those are Lines.

This is the kind of perspective change you need to bring in, in order to compose Minimalist frames.

Let's take a few photo examples, to better understand how a normal person views objects and how a minimalist views them. 

Example 1) 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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a) How a Normal person views it: Two holes in a rusty metal sheet.

b) How a Minimalist views it: Two circles separated by a line.

 

Example 2) 

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a) How a Normal person views it: A yellow wall with an opening.

b) How a Minimalist views it: A red rectangle within a square, which is again within a larger square.

Example 3) 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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a) How a Normal person views it: Snippet of a ladder .

b) How a Minimalist views it: Five vertical lines cut by a diagonal one.

Example 4) 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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a) How a Normal person views it: Six windows .

b) How a Minimalist views it: Rectangles, squares, lines and curves.

Example 5) 

Photo by © Prakash Ghai
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a) How a normal person views it: A bicycle parked by the wall.

b) How a Minimalist views it: A semi-circle, lines and a rectangle.

Example 6) 

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a) How a normal person views it: A staircase.

b) How a Minimalist views it: A right angled triangle on the left, A diagonal lines. other straight lines.

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I hope the above examples help. Also see: Types of Minimalism

More Articles on Minimalist Photography

• Phases of Life and Photography: & where "Minimalism" fits in.

• Exploring Suppressed Inner Creativity via Minimalist Photography.

Feel free to share your photos in the comments section and leave a feedback for the article.

Thank you, have a nice day/night.