Using the Bokeh technique to Create Minimalist Photos

Minimalist photograph of a feather on a pond.

Some Tricks to create Minimalist Photos

To create minimalist photographs, I reuse the same techniques. I apply the following simplistic rules to implement the purpose of minimalist photography.

I always try to find a composition that brings out the unique element that I would like to illuminate.
I focus on patterns when they are present in the scene, whether for the point of interest itself or for the negative space.
I use the creative technique of bokeh to highlight the shapes and volumes of the point of interest. This is used especially in my animal photographs.
In my light and colors photographs, I often use a dominant color to detach the minimal subject in the framing.
I sometimes utilize the creative technique of black and white in my shades of blacks and whites photographs because this technique is well adapted for the minimalist approach.
For my photographs of landscapes, I like to use the creative technique of long exposure because it accentuates the creamy and dreamlike effects of the scenes.
Also for photographs of landscapes, I use the technique of symmetry or reflection. These are interesting reading reinforcement elements that accentuate the messages being conveyed.
The isolation of the point of interest is an important principle for me. This is not always easy to implement in wide-angle photography because disturbing details are often present. But this is where the right choice of a point of view comes in.

Minimalist Wildlife Photography

As wildlife professional photographers, I like to apply the minimalist approach. I must first choose the scene and a negative space that is neutral and free. Meadows, snowy areas, or lakes are ideal locations. It is necessary to remove from the frame all elements that may distract the eye from the viewer. In Europe or the United States, I often use the technique of the blind either for mammals or birds. I choose the place and I wait for an animal to move through the scene.

It is for this reason that when I approach this photographic technique during my workshops, I always recommend that trainees learn about the habits of the animals and their behavior. For example, when photographing mirrored bluethroats I know where the singing or mating areas are. For deer or wild boars, I know the areas of passages and flows.

The knowledge of the biotope is the fundamental element to choose the scenes that will be used to support minimalist animal pictures.

Minimalist photograph of a red deer during the rut season in Charente-Maritime in France.

Minimalist Underwater Photography

As underwater professional photographers, I sometimes use the minimalist approach, although it is very difficult to practice. Indeed, the underwater environments are often exuberant in forms or colors. In the desert spaces, there are few interesting centers of interest to photograph.

When I photograph underwater with a wide angle, my privileged place is undoubtedly the caves of the Red Sea or in the cenotes of the Yucatan.

My minimalist underwater approach is incredibly focused on close-up or macro photography. As with wildlife photography, it requires a thorough knowledge of the biotopes and behavior of underwater animals. My favorite subjects are gobies, blennies, seahorses or crustaceans. I often use the technique of patterns to highlight the subjects.

Underwater photography is a difficult photographic discipline due to the lack of air. Air tanks generally limit the diving times to one hour for a depth of 20 meters (60 feet). In addition, you can only do 3 dives a day without being too tired. Finally, changing immersion times and the frequent rotation of diving sites are unfavorable factors for a minimalist approach.

Minimalist photograph of a manta ray during a night dive in Maldives.

Minimalist Landscape Photography

As landscape professional photographers, I often create minimalist photos. As I have explained in previous paragraphs, I use the long exposure technique quite often, as it is straightforward to implement. However, it is up to the nature photographer to use this technique to create beautiful minimalist photos.

On one hand, it is possible to return without stopping to photograph the same scene at various times or seasons. Time does not matter. It is a matter of patience.

In landscape photography, choice of scenery is decided by the photographer. This is not always the case in animal photography or underwater photography, where the photographer remains heavily dependent on the surrounding environments and the animals’ habits.

Landscape scenes which are perhaps easiest to photograph are deserts and wetlands. Indeed, these areas are uncrowded with superfluous details. The main difficulty is to integrate a motivating subject, or focus, into the scene. It is the imagination and the originality of the photographer that will create an impact on the viewer.

Minimalist photograph of a jetty.

Post-Processing: An Effective Ally

During my nature photography workshops, I often repeat that shooting is the essential act in photography. Even with computer tools for correction and retouching, a bad photo will always be a bad photo. A good photo must be 95% successful when the photographer decides to trigger the camera. Post-processing consists of accentuating details and clarifying even more clearly the photographer's artistic vision. In this article, I place myself in the noblest definition of photography. I do not place myself in the photography which consists of taking several shots to create one.

The development in black and white, for example, accentuates the feeling of minimalism. It is a creative technique that allows highlighting the point of interest of a photo.

The ability to crop a photo by removing disruptive elements is also a technique for creating minimal photos.

The high key and low key techniques also help to reinforce the minimalist vision of a photographer.

Computer tools are essential today to create interesting artistic photographs which will have a firm impact on the audience. Despite their utility, they should only be used to reinforce and deepen a vision.

Finally

Even though the making of minimalist photographs may seem simple and easy at first glance, it is not a discount style of photography. It is necessary to be very vigilant in the construction of the photographs. The photographer should be very careful in the choice of point of view, framing, composition, and in transmitting the message

Creating beautiful minimalist photographs requires decent technical mastery, for example, in shooting with the use of filters. Technical mastery of photographic development is also required for creations in high-key or low-key.

Minimalist photography is an approach that requires a certain way of thinking and a Zen attitude. It takes time, patience and self-sacrifices to succeed in interesting, creative pictures that transmit good messages expressing the artistic vision of the photographer.

Be humble, patient, constant, persevering, and persistent because the road to excellence is long.

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8 Techniques for Creating Minimalist Photos

I like to create minimalist photographs because it fits perfectly into my artistic vision. This photographic approach may seem simple and natural at first glance, however, it requires a lot of patience and a special state of mind. I have incorporated this photographic approach into my methodology. I always use the same criteria for framing and composing.

For me, the creation of minimalist photographs is above all a therapy, a way to find myself alone in a fast-moving world where the words "fleeting", "speed", "instantaneity" and "forgetfulness" seem to dictate their laws to every moment. This approach allows me to formulate firm photographic foundations.

Minimalist picture of a bighorn sheep in Yellowstone in winter.

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A Little Bit of History

It is always important to situate events, the evolution of principles, and techniques. Every story has a beginning and an end. Minimalist photography does not deviate from this rule.

In general, minimalism is a form of contemporary art, appearing during the early 1960s in the United States. This name was given in 1965 by the English analytical philosopher Richard Wollheim in the magazine "Arts Magazine" about an exhibition at the Green Gallery in New York.

Two facts characterize the hatching of the current minimalism. While Richard Wollheim did create minimalism in opposition to the figurative tendency of Pop Art, he is also the heir of the modernist movement, the Bauhaus. One of their maxims was "less is more". Minimalists sought purity and efficiency through painting.

Photography viewed as an artistic discipline has also been affected by this phenomenon. I do not know when this approach began impacting photography, but I believe that minimalist photography was born around the same time that the minimalist tide swept through society, in the mid-twentieth century.

Today this world is turmoil; most people have difficulty finding benchmarks. Thus, minimalist photography has become a true artistic form to describe nature.

Proposal for a Definition of Minimalist Photography

Quite strangely, defining minimalist photography is difficult. Rather than trying to define it, I will provide its main characteristics. Although trying to categorize minimalism into merely a few properties limits me, it is nevertheless how I conceive this artistic approach.

A minimalist photograph seeks to minimize the elements necessary for the viewer's understanding.
The message to be passed must be done with as few elements as possible. The photographer looks for the simplest form possible.
It is a simple photograph that does not require a complicated analytical reading.
A minimalist photograph shows a unique point of interest. It can be presented alone or in repetition, in the manner of a pattern. But in any case, the subject is unique.
When it is alone, the point of interest of the composition occupies a small place. The compositions are very refined.
There are no elements of reading reinforcement. The photograph does not present any frills.

If I was to give a general rough idea, I would say that a minimalist photograph is a simple photograph. It shows only what needs to be seen.

But as I always repeat during my wildlife, underwater or landscape photography workshops, "It is very difficult to do simple things".

But be careful: minimalist photography does not mean simplistic photography. Creating a minimalist photo requires a lot of thinking, a defined artistic approach, methodology and time.

An Artistic Vision Above All

Artistic photography is an artistic discipline. As I described in this article, it exists mainly to show a vision or unique perspective of the world. The minimalist vision is one of the ways to project this vision. It is a personal, and often, an artistic approach.

My everyday environment, be it sensory, visual, or olfactory, is full of details, shapes, and structures. Each sense is different from the others. The material world created by humans is often noisy. The ambient brouhaha is like all the repetitive information that I am delivered daily: it becomes inaudible.

As far as I am concerned, in recent years, I have wanted to find true values by immersing myself in calm and serene environments. More and more, I crave the solitude that one finds in the great natural spaces. Minimalist photography has become a necessity for me, a vital need to find deep values, whether human, relational, or ethical.

I wanted to come back to an essential photograph, with no frills or apparatuses. When I was working for online photography stocks or for magazines, it was certain that it was not a very sought after type of photography. For that specific type of media, one needed sensational, exceptional, and brilliant photos. The more details, the more sales. After years of photographic work based on the orders I was given, I wanted to return to my true core values and pursue a photography for which I was truly passionate.

Minimalist photography is a translation of a vision of the world and the emotions that a photographer desires to convey through his works. If you like exuberance, shimmering colors, and very detailed photographs, do not engage yourself in the minimalist approach. You will not be able to create interesting photos that resemble you and your personality. Stay true to who you really are. Your photos will have more impact if they are a true representation of yourself.

Minimalist photography does not need to describe the world or nature realistically. It has no importance in that sense. The most important are the suggestive and emotional power of the approach to convey the personal emotions of the photographer. Like any artistic process, it is ultimately an interpretation of the real world.

The Value of a Minimalist Approach

For me, minimalist photography is an elegant artistic approach that evokes class in the noblest sense of the term. By going to the basics, I try to convey simple, straightforward messages. I enjoy creating ethereal and dreamy scenes when I contemplate nature. Whether in the mineral landscapes of the United States, the forested landscapes of France, or in the wetlands, I always try to find simple scenes with well-organized environments, thus representing my perspective and love for nature.

The minimalist approach reflects tranquility, serenity, introspection, and self-seeking. The interest of this approach is to allow me to refocus on my core values by returning to the fundamental criteria of my life.

For me, the minimalist photo is like a therapy. My profession of independent professional photographers is a stressful and nervous activity. It can be very difficult to live daily. Between communication activities, administrative activities, photo workshops, and appointments with clients, I have little time to create pictures within my busy schedules. I do up to two or three projects each year. Moreover, these projects are often customer orders that require special art photographs. It is for this reason that when I was on the field, I was looking for simplicity and quietness with evanescent scenes that make me dream.

For me to create minimalist photos, I fulfill a longing within myself; a longing to project myself into scenes where I find freedom by evolving in spaces without any constraint, without any walls. These are scenes where I find time to breathe and relax while shooting. When the photos are printed on paper, perhaps decorating a wall, I revisit that same calm emotion of relaxation.