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Basics of fine-art photography/Creating works in a minimalist photography

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Drought in Khartoum (photo from the exhibition "Hitchhiking across Sudan")

Minimalism is a style of photographic art, where the author's work is distinguished by the utmost simplicity of execution.

About style and implementation methods

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Minimalism emerged as an artistic trend in the 60s of the last century, later, in addition to painting, it began to be used in photography. The style involves a minimum of depicted objects, shades, shapes and textures, as a result of which the viewer's attention is concentrated on the central object, without being distracted by details.

To create a minimalist photo work, you should choose a time of day or a season when there will be as few people around as possible and objects that fall into the frame. For example, at the early morning in the city, or in the snowy winter at forest. In any case, you will need imagination and the ability to improvise. In addition, you should pay attention to the artistry and content of photography. You can photograph a small fly on a large plain wall, or an apple on the pavement - this will also be minimalism, but ... a photographic work should carry in itself something special, arouse the viewer's desire looking at it for a long time, thoughtfully. Will someone should want look at the fly?

Important to know

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Use the rule of thirds when choosing a compositional solution.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Take a look at the photographs of the author of this article as an example, they will silently tell you more about minimalism than long educational texts.

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