Space in the garden

This week’s topic for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is ‘negative space‘. In terms of photography, negative space is about including more in your shot other than the subject, and allowing that quiet background to highlight the subject. I looked back at some photos I took in the garden a few weeks back and cropped some of them to increase the negative space and see how it feels.

I’m loving this shot of a Hoverfly sitting on a Water Mint flower head. Originally the hoverfly was more towards the centre, but putting him over a little further to the left has him really standing out against the green.

This little Common Green Shieldbug (4th instar, I think) was perched on the Meadowsweet seeds. With the space on the bottom right, it looks like he’s looking out from there, contemplating life.

This Small White butterfly perched on the Verbena by the pond. The pond is almost hidden at the moment with the amount of plants clustered around it (and some falling into it), but with a low f-stop, the background busyness has faded away. Cropping out some of the flowers, and keeping in more background has made sure it’s all about the butterfly

Another little Common Green Shieldbug (2nd instar). I like how keeping in more of the leaf emphasises how small he is in comparison. It looks like he has quite the climb ahead of him.

Another Hoverfly on the Water Mint, in the spotlight, looking ready to take to the stage.

And finally, this more grown-up Common Green Shieldbug (5th instar) seems to be pondering life beyond this leaf, and wondering what lies ahead…