Positive Side of Negative Space

Thumbing through a favorite dive magazine, you can’t help but notice that a good number of the feature stories open with a two-page spread that uses a single large image that is overlaid with the feature’s title and the story’s opening text.

Above is a sampling showing four different Scuba Diver Magazine spreads that I had written for this publication.

What do all these images have in common? They all have varying degrees of neutral space to one side or the other for dropping in title, headers and text. Art directors love this type of composition because it leaves the right amount of exploitable space.

While most of my underwater photography might not win or place in a photo contest, to shoot imagery for publication purposes is still an art form all its own; not to mention a little profitable as well when you get it right.

For example, the image used for this cover shot of a underwater photographer looking at a large anemone with a pair of false clown anemonefish only had to be cropped slightly at the top to fit the layout. Even with that done, the art director still had more than ample space above the main scene for the feature story title and subheadings.

If you research the