The Spaced Out challenge is the latest to have been completed by our Emerge participants.

The negative space in an image can help to emphasise and balance the main subject, giving the subject room to breathe and preventing the image from feeling cluttered. The intentional use of large areas of negative space to command attention is dynamic and can evoke an emotional response. It can bring a greater level of connection to the subject if there is little else to draw your attention in the composition.

We had some incredible submissions for this challenge, it probably took us longer to pick this top 10 than almost any other top 10 we can remember. It was so hard to split the images. But in the end, a top 10 we must have and these are the works of art that made it.

Congratulations to all the photographers!

We'll be back in 2 weeks with the results of the next challenge, Highs and Lows.

Charlotte & Craig 🐶 📸 ✨

Allison Schwickerath | Allison Mae Photography

This is quite striking and very graphic. Beautiful colour harmony and the longer you look at it, the more little details you discover, the alignment of the merle fur and shade, the sand blowing and catching the light, and more!

Blue Amrich | Beyond the Fence

Gorgeous complementary colour harmony, wonderful story telling and a vast amount of sky give the image tons of negative space that really works in this composition.

Iris Van Velzen | Iris Van Velzen Fotografie

We've had some images with wonderful colour harmony for this challenge, and this is no exception. Really wonderful earthy tones, the textures amplify that as well. Gorgeous sift rim light and well-placed negative space.

Jeff Rooney | Hightail It Photography

What a striking graphic, great intensity, great posing, and the space on the right perfectly aligns with the Spaced Out challenge brief.

Jillian Turner | Gone To the Dogs Photography

Beautiful tones and a lovely mood. This is a great example of how to use negative space effectively without it being extreme.

Magda Szklarska | Your Best Furiend Photography

What gorgeous warm tones throughout this image. The negative space is in the direction of the movement which is where space should be.

Nadia Hall | Barking Dog Images

The single colour here really makes the cat pop. Its pose is really engaging and the blacks have been handled brilliantly. The negative space is on the extreme side, but really helps to enhance this composition to maintain a feeling of balance.

Nancy Paynter

This is beautifully graphic and the curves of the cat's body are wonderful. Great use of negative space at the bottom of the image for the cat to move into.

Rebecca Williams | Rebecca Williams Photographer

You can't look at this shot without feeling it. This is very much a lifestyle kind of image, the light falling on the landscape and the beautifully controlled lens flare really enhances the emotive qualities. Of course, the space is perfectly suited to the challenge too.

Stephanie Dalman | Boxers and Beer

This is such a sweet moment and a lovely story really enhanced by the negative space. The sharp thin slice of the image that is in focus is perfect and the rest of the image, though blurry, really tells you all you need to know about the location. 

Emerge is the second series in our Unleashed Challenge courses and is made up of 12 challenges over 6 months. It’s open to anyone who has completed our first course in the series, Embark.

So much more than just a challenge, the Unleashed Challenges are an invaluable educational resource that will help you build up a go-to list of shots to help create variety in your work. Designed for anyone to be able to complete whether you just want to photograph your own dog or you are a professional pet photographer.

If you'd like to know more head over here to register your interest and we'll send you all the details when enrolment for Embark next opens in April 2023.