Using "empty" space as a compositional element

Excellent point. I feel I'm always cropping mine tight because there is so much visual clutter in the BG (they try to cram alot in a small stage). Here's one case recently where I could have cropped much tighter, but the empty/negative space made the shot more dramatic in my eyes:

I have to admit that it's something I've looked at more after-the-fact, seeing what my shots offer me in PP. I'm really going to make an effort to look "wider" when it comes to composing my shots in the future.

@Kalle:
#2, 4 and 5 work less IMO because there is a lot of empty space to the side. In fact, I think #5 would work nicely as a 'portrait pano'...
@Bmoguy: Works well.

Here's one kinda recent:

Bit too cluttered though in hindsight. I might redo the crop, and crop off a bit bottom, left and right.
posted some better ones (IMO) in this thread

Now's a nice time for some sleep ;)

I'm very narrow minded when it comes to empty space (white space in typographical terms) and really think it has to greate a strong contrast to subject. In addition space is better the less there are distractions and the more solid it is.

The very good examples are pictures 6 and 7 that Kalle has posted above.

This is one I composed especially to give space around face and I quite like this, although the guitar player is missing his instrument:

Janne Laine
http://www.myspace.com/jannelaine

This one is not so loose and spacious, but I liked to use lots of dark to bring out the fingers:
[img width=900 height=602]http://myrakleftos.fi/djung/img/iwatsw/bin/images/large/_NJL0044.jpg[/img]
I Was a Teenage Satan Worshipper
http://www.myspace.com/teensatanists

For both images EXIF is embedded in image.

Kalle Björklid wrote:
I'm interested in non-regular compostions, something that is not seen in every picture.

Looking your picture, Kalle, I cannot help wondering if you really got into this "empty space" thing after buying that 15mm fisheye...? ;)

I'm kind a on verge of moving towards "wider" picture my self at the moment. I have always been a great fan of really tight crops. Mainly because I hate having anything distracting in my pictures. And unfortunately (for me) I'm a bit picky what comes to distracting objects: I usually find even microphone stands and cables disturbing! At one point I even cloned some of that stuff away (I still do this, but not in so big scale anymore; one time I cloned a mic stand away from front of the musician! :D Well, he was not singing at the moment, so he didn't needed it at that time... ;) The stand was in the middle of this picture, I try to find the original somewhere so you can compare).

Until beginning of this year the widest lens I had was 17mm (on 1.6x crop body). This really did not give any "wide feel" (like fisheyes and really wide lenses do), just added more and more distracting objects to the picture. The best "empty space" shot I got with this lens is this:

Total Devastation, Curium Metal Fest @ Gloria / Helsinki, 9.9.2006

It would have needed a wider lens to capture every "leg" of that spider-like ventilation system.

Just recently I bought Canon 10-22 wide zoom lens and really got into wide angle shots! With this lens the wide angle distortion begins to show and suddenly I see a point in wide shots! Pictures do not seem flat anymore (like with 17mm) and even the stuff that disturbed me earlier really 'sinks' into the picture nicely.

Today I take somewhat similar shots to images Kalle presented in this thread earlier. 17mm was too much for creating that feel of space, 10mm is just what I need!

Moonsorrow, Klubi / Turku, 2.3.2007

April, Finnish Metal Expo 2007 @ Kaapelitehdas / Helsinki

excellent topic.
in my opinion, live photography should be (only ;) ) dedicated to this use of space as a compositional element. live music means to me space, big areas, large framing....

my examples (horizontal) :

Very nice images!
Was this on a large stage?
Also: Who are these people?

René Damkot wrote:
Very nice images!
Was this on a large stage?
Also: Who are these people?

Thanx René.
number 2 and 4 were on a big stage (6500 personns), at a famous French blues festival. good lights (300 mm, f5.6 ;) )
n°2 is a French blues musician, Christophe Becker, n°4 is Bettye Lavette, a blues/soul singer from New Orleans.

n°1 is Rusty Zinn, fantastic blues guitar player from California. very small stage 28/70mm, f2.8
on this one, I didn't followed the direction the musician looks, but the way the light comes from.

n°3 is Ayo, American "soft pop" singer (song "Down on my knees..."). medium stage, not very good lights (30mm, f1.4, only first 3 songs to take pictures).
on this one, I absolutely wanted to get the name "Ayo" behind her in the frame.

Some really nice images in this thread! I must admit, I am a closeup kinda guy, usually too close truth be told.

I do have a Sigma 10-22 that i don't use much, so i really should give it a go.

Rob

The only thing i will say to Kalle is that i am a bit of a prude when it comes to non-standard crops on images.
I love your images that you posted (first three i am talking about), but i would never think to do a 2:1 aspect crop.

Rob

I like to shoot with space around the artist. I've gotten away from that recently due to shooting in some venues with very poor lighting.

Here's one of Little Miss Tammy Smith. I really like the bubbles in the shot

the places i shoot typically don't yield themselves to good empty space shots that aren't all black; the ceilings are low, the stage rather small, and the widest i shoot on my crop body is 17mm, which isn't very wide.

Yes, I realise that this is a very old thread, but this is a subject that fascinates me.

I often like to get in really close and focus on small details and am guilty of cropping the hell out of images to get what I want.

I do also like to occasionally utilise blank space as a compositional element, especially black space, to draw the eye to the intended focal point.

Here is one of my favourite examples, using the rule of thirds to position the hand and give it some breathing space to 'push against'