Rusted Barb Wire

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Macro Minimalism is pretty different from the Long Range Street Minimalism that I mostly shoot. 

This Minimalist Photo is one from the Close Range Minimal shots category.

I used the Canon 100mm prime Macro F 2.8 L Series Lens here. 

Settings: Taken on Manual Focus of Both the Camera and Lens.

What prompted me to take this shot was the Rust in the Barb Wire.

The subject is kept a touch off-center on purpose.

The Blurry Background / Bokeh is a result of shooting this photograph at F 2.8 aperture. 

And Finally, The Photo falls under the Minimalism as Less Elements Category. 

Hope you enjoyed the Shot. 

Have a Great Day / Evening.

Thank You.

Solo Water Droplet

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Good Evening All !

Today, I wanted to share this photograph of a Solo Water Droplet.

The reason why I am sharing this photograph today is that It goes with my current mood.

I feel pretty lonely, sad isolated today. (of course this is just a mood swing)

This Photograph completely goes with that mood. And Hey ! 

This is the purpose of Art is. Isn't it?

When people can relate their mood, life events, feelings etc to artworks/photographs, their connection to the piece of art goes to another level.

Minimalist Photography is not about Flat Photographs. We need to make the photos Artsy too, as often as we can. And that is a big challenge.

Now, you may tell me that hey, you are relating this photograph to a mood after taking the shot. So this is not the shot that you initially planned capturing. 

My answer to this is simple !

What does a photographer shoot? 

Well.. He either shoots his conscious mind or his subconscious mind. So there must have been an hidden emotion/thought/feeling at the back of my mind, while I was capturing this shot.

And, its only now, that I have discovered that as to why I clicked this Photograph in the first place.

So basically, if one studies his own shots closely, he may able to understand what goes on deep down within one's subconscious mind. 

Now, Lets take a look at the Simplistic Composition.

All that I tried to do here, was to create a curve with the violet leaf and get the background blurred. 

Other than that, just as usual I left negative space. 

Of course you need a Macro Lens for this. The one that I used here, is the Canon 100mm Prime Macro 2.8 L Series.

I really love shooting Water Droplets, that are formed post rain. I do not like to recreate them in a controlled environment, because the feel is completely lost then.

I did a Macro Water Droplet series earlier. In case you missed it, then please check the link below.

7 Macro Minimalist Photos featuring Water Droplets

Thank you for your time. 

Have a nice Day/Evening

Two Entangled Dry White Twigs

Minimalism as Less Elements

Photo By © Prakash Ghai
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Two Entangled Dry White Twigs. Well that's some title. Took me a long time to think that. Why? because 'Simplicity is obvious, but because there is so much clutter around us, we fail to spot it".

This is Macro Minimalism / Macro Photography and of course the theme here is "Nature".

I generally don't shoot such subjects, but since I have my New Canon 100mm Macro Lens with me now, I am exploring Macro Nature as a Minimalism Subject. To be frank, I am enjoying it. 

Good Lenses and Camera Power does help. I am planning to buy the upcoming Canon 6D Mark II full-frame Camera in the next couple of months. It's yet to be announced by the way ;)

OK, so lets get to the Composition Highlights now.

This is Minimalism as in Less Elements. The only Elements here being,

a) The Two Entangled Dry White Twigs and 

b) The Smooth Creamy Bokeh Background. 

I actually found this at Smriti Van (forest) in Jaipur. I was there for an Instagram Meet. This Twig pair was spotted at the Centerpiece Decoration of the Yoga Garden at Smriti Van, which had a lot of creeper plants on it.

I was having a discussion with my friend and was telling him how eager I was to spot and shoot a Spider Web. I initially spotted a few Strands of the Spiders Web but I wasn't happy with that. 

When I looked around the entire Centerpiece Decoration, I actually failed to spot any worthwhile Spider Webs. With a sad, dull mood, I decided to make these Two Entangled Dry White Twigs as my stop-gap subject. 

I clicked this very casually and took just 2 shots. Later, I discarded one of it, but kept this one.

I did one mistake here, which I later corrected in post processing/editing. It is very difficult to get sharp focus in handheld Macro Shots. And my Camera provides only 1 Cross-Point Focus option. That is the Center Focus Point, out of the 9 in total available in the view-finder to focus.

So, to get this sharp, I used that center focus point and clicked this image. But, I ended up center-placing my subject and that was looking awful, just awful. 

I did not use the other focus points as they would not have given me this clear and sharp picture. Also, I did not Compose-Recompose by physically moving the camera after locking focus, to get the rule of thirds right, because in Macro Lenses, you tend to lose focus with the slightest of movement. 

Therefore, I simply cropped the Image from the left and Bang ! Rule of thirds was applied :)

OK, that a long chatter.

Hope you liked my effort. Stay tuned for more.

Regards

Prakash Ghai 

Related Post:

• 7 Macro Minimalist Photos featuring Water Droplets

Black Ball Reflection

Minimalism as in Small Objects

Minimalist Photography By © Prakash Ghai
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What we have here is another Macro Minimalism Photograph. The Subject, is just a small round Black Ball that I picked-up under my Coffee Table.

The table was covered elegantly with a glossy silver mica. The light was coming in from the front and behind me there was a big white wall. 

What I found interesting here, was the small little reflection of the Black Ball being created on the silver-ish and smooth surface of the Coffee Table.

I had my Macro Lens on, and it took me about 4-5 shots to get this right. 

I was on Full Manual Camera Settings with Both the Camera and Lens's focus settings set to Manual as well.

Since I wanted to emphasize the Black Ball's Reflection, I placed the subject only following the left rule of thirds, and avoided the bottom rule of thirds alignment. As you can see, the Black Ball is near the center row of the rule of thirds grid, while its reflection slips towards the bottom row.

Minimalism Category and Composition:

This Minimalist Photo falls under the Minimalism as in Small Objects category of Minimalist Photography. 

The intention is clearly to show its small size, against the large empty spaces. 

To enhance emphasis on the subject, a lot of Negative Space has been used.