Gestalt principles make the viewer envision more than you can see.įigure-Ground refers to the relationship between an object and its surroundings. For example, closure and proximity in photography add layers of meaning that go beyond the visible. Gestalt principles help create food for thoughts, engaging the viewer with the photograph and enriching the visual content. Gestalt in photography means using psychology to create well-balanced compositions that capture the viewer’s attention. By introducing Gestalt psychology in your compositions, you shape the meaning of the photograph and lead the viewer in the direction of your thoughts. The Gestalt principles help you organize the elements in the frame in a straightforward and easy-to-understand manner. Gestalt Principles & Photography: Why It’s Important

When you put them all together, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. In this photo of the old car, the parts are: the Information type of Texture which alludes to the age and history of the car, the “I like Ike” bumper sticker, getting “up close and personal,” and the abandoned environment. These concepts are visual rules, and I agree that once the parts are placed and the composition is framed, the whole does exceed the sum of its parts. To be sure, the whole is important, but the parts that make it up are equally important.

The more things we can get the viewer to discover while moving around the frame will also keep them looking at and enjoying our photos longer. The more ways we can have the viewer move around our composition, while at the same time leaving and entering it through the use of these concepts, the longer they will stick around. Visual input and perception of the world around us is a part of our everyday life, and as photographers, it’s our prime objective to present this visual information in a way that takes control of what the viewer sees when looking at our imagery. The methods we use to gain attention to our photography will vary, but what’s important is how we manage what the viewer perceives and processes when looking at a photograph.

OK, this is where I come in: When we use these six Principles of Gestalt in our photography, we’re working with and structuring these parts (if you will) that will eventually make up the whole… as in, a completed photograph. What does Gestalt psychology have to do with photography? What Koffa meant to say was, “The whole exists independently from the component parts”. Because he was fluent in English, he was able to bring the Gestalt Principles to America where they were mistranslated. Kurt Koffa was born in Berlin, and worked under Wertheimer. This is what Kurt Koffa, one of the brilliant minds behind the Psychology said.

Ein gestr. tl