This week Amy wants us to think about how the concept of “Less Is More” can impact our pictures. Removing as much as possible to establish the focus on only one or two elements in an image, while still conveying the overall feeling or spirit, can be challenging at times.
“Simplify: say no to the good so you can say yes to the best.”
Decided to experiment with two of my favorite subjects – flowers and bottle-nose dolphins. I wanted to see if it is really true that sometimes “Less Is More” can create a better picture.
“There is beauty in simplicity.” – unknown
This image seems to be a good example of “Less Is More”. The original picture shows a large Shasta daisy plant, full of flowers. I removed all but three and added a textured background for effect.
Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify, simply! Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose” – Henry David Thoreau
These bottle-nose dolphin photographs below were taken along Captain Sam’s Inlet on the western end of Kiawah Island. This is where the developers continue to persist in their efforts to build housing on this small fragile piece of land that is so critical for the survival of many endangered species and migrating birds. Am using these pictures to show how removing parts can make the overall image more powerful – “Less Is More”!
This first picture is of a dolphin looking for mullet as others in the pod swim close by.
The second one shows the dolphin closer to shore herding a school of mullet to force them up on the sand so the pod can devour the fish.
As a side note, this method of dolphin feeding is known as “strand feeding”; the pods around Kiawah Island are among the few in the world which share this learned behavior, click here for additional pictures and information plus searching “dolphin strand feeding Kiawah Island, SC” on the internet will provide much more information. Documented pictures and articles from Kiawah by National Geographic are also available.
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci
Amy’s topic this week, “Less is More”, is an interesting subject, be sure to Click here to enjoy her post!