Assignment 5 Photo Challenge — The Necessary Image Create one photograph that communicates a single, clear idea or feeling using subtraction as your primary tool. Assignment Prompt: Photograph a subject you might normally shoot wide or inclusively, then deliberately remove anything that does not serve its meaning. Your goal is clarity through restraint. Be sure that your new post is posted to the last comment in this thread. There often is a button that says "Jump to last comment." You don't want your image to appear as a comment under someone else's image.

Photo Challenge — The Necessary Image Create one photograph that communicates a single, clear idea or feeling using subtraction as your primary tool. Assignment Prompt: Photograph a subject you might normally shoot wide or inclusively, then deliberately remove anything that does not serve its meaning. Your goal is clarity through restraint. Guidelines - One primary subject only - No more than two supporting elements - Pay attention to edges and background - Use framing, position, or timing before cropping - Color, light, and sharpness should reinforce—not compete Submission Reflection 1. What was your intent? 2. What did you consciously remove or avoid? 3. Where might distraction still exist? Critique Emphasis - Visual hierarchy (where does the eye go first—and why?) - Competing elements or visual noise - Emotional clarity after subtraction Goal: The image feels inevitable—nothing missing, nothing extra. Remember, do not post your assignment images here. Post them under the matching critique thread under the Post Images Here tab.

By Week 5, you are no longer learning how to see—you are learning how to edit your seeing. Subtraction is the discipline of removing anything that weakens the image’s intent. Distraction is the consequence of failing to do so. Most photographs fail not because of what they include, but because of what they refuse to let go of. Subtraction begins with a simple but difficult question: What does not serve the image’s meaning? This is not a technical question. A sharply focused object can still be a distraction. A beautifully lit area can still undermine the photograph’s emotional clarity. If it does not reinforce the subject or the feeling you intend, it competes for attention. Distractions come in many forms: - Bright highlights that pull the eye away from the subject - Strong colors that overpower the emotional tone - Secondary subjects that create narrative confusion - Excess negative space that dilutes emphasis - “Interesting” details that add complexity but no meaning The human eye is drawn to contrast, sharpness, brightness, and saturation. If those visual magnets exist outside your subject, the viewer will follow them—whether you intended it or not. Subtraction is how you guide the eye with restraint instead of force. This week is about decisive seeing. Before pressing the shutter, ask: - Can I move closer? - Can I change my angle? - Can I wait for something to leave the frame? - Can I simplify the background? - Can I remove this element by reframing rather than cropping? Cropping is allowed, but it should be a refinement—not a rescue. Subtraction is also an emotional act. When you remove visual noise, you amplify emotional signal. Silence in a photograph works the same way silence works in music or poetry—it creates focus, tension, and presence. What remains gains weight. Importantly, subtraction does not mean minimalism for its own sake. A complex image can still be clear. The goal is not “less,” but nothing extra. As you critique this week, resist the urge to suggest additions. Instead, practice asking what could be removed, darkened, softened, or simplified to strengthen intent. Strong photographers are not accumulators—they are editors.

If you click on the Classroom tab, you will see courses. Right now, we only have the first course, Seeing With Intent. At the bottom of the course description, you will find the phases, lessons (steps), and assignment descriptions. The assignment description comment area is for discussion and Q&A, not posting images in response to the assignment. Image submissions are uploaded as new comments under the matching Step and Assignment number, under the Post Images Here tab. It is our image submission, your image introduction, image analysis, discussion, and critique area.

Light as Meaning. Comment on this to post images you have created for the Seeing with Intent Assignment 3: Light as Meaning. Intent: Move beyond light as a technical tool and treat it as part of the image's narrative.