Using The Principles of Gestalt In Photography

How understanding the way the mind perceives and organizes visual information can improve your compositions

Introduction to Gestalt Theory

Gestalt is a psychological theory that focuses on how the human brain perceives and organizes visual information. It actually began as a deeper look into how our eyeballs communicate to our brains. The findings were transformational and changed our understanding of our perception of the world around us. From this study, we came to understand that the mind organizes stimuli into complete and meaningful wholes, rather than simply recognizing individual elements. So popular and wide-reaching were the implications of this research that it went on to have ramifications in all kinds of fields, from psychology to photography.

Here, we’re going to focus specifically on how the main principles (proximity, similarity, closure, figure/ground and continuity) can be used to influence decisions you’re making with your photography.

Proximity: Creating a Sense of Unity and Connection

“Evolution” (Proximity). Photo by Josh S. Rose, 2016.

One of the main principles of Gestalt is proximity, which refers to the idea that objects that are close together are perceived as a group…