I live in Finland and during winter time there is not much to photograph. That is what my friend complains about too and we both wait for summer to come so that we could take more photographs.

But that is not completely true. Although there is snow everywhere and everything seems to be boring and white, winter offers a great opportunity to use minimalism in photography and make some use for the "emptiness" around.

I am not an expert on minimalism, but in photography I have noticed how powerful it is to strengthen the subject and give out an effect far greater than a photograph with disorientation in it. I think minimalism in photography is something that more people should try. It is also a great starting point for beginners since there are fewer elements to composite.


What Is Minimalism About And Why Does It Work?

Minimalism in photography is mostly about removing disorientation and simplifying the photograph by reducing unnecessary elements from picture. It works so well because it strengthens the subject by leaving nothing else to look at. Therefore viewer is “forced” to look at the only thing left it the photograph.

Minimalism is a great way to show just the things you want viewers to see. Usually a photograph has many elements and patterns in addition to the main subject and it can distract the viewer to look other things.


Ways To Use Minimalism In Photography

To do minimalism in photography you can either shoot a subject on empty or otherwise neutral background. It is also possible to use the depth of field to achieve same effect by blurring everything unnecessary. Simple things can be beautiful and that is why simplicity works so well.

For instance if you are shooting outside, you can use sky as a background to your subject, or just find other simple looking background like sand or snow.

But in most cases depth of field is your most effective weapon to get rid of unnecessary things on background and it is quite commonly used to strengthen the subject. If your background is not blurry enough, you can also use Photoshop to do the same thing, but it takes a little bit more time to do.

Besides these methods you can simply just crop things outside the image. This is a very good way to get rid of clutter on situations when you simply can't use depth of field to blur all things needed.


Ways To Use Colors More Effectively

Using colors correctly can also create minimalistic feeling. You can remove disorientation by having all the other things except the subject being same colored. This makes the subject pop up from the image and carry out some effective results.

You can also try using as few colors as possible. For instance, by having all the things in the photograph being just different tones of blue can make the photograph look quite interesting.

However in this case you have to use patterns and textures to strengthen the subject. Otherwise the photograph will just be flat and boring looking, but if you manage to do this correctly the result will be quite interesting.