Student’s Work: PSOP Gestalt Class

by Joe on March 31, 2013

Figure-Ground, The Law of Common Fate, and Similarity.

I teach three online classes with the best known online school out there, the PPSOP. I teach a Part I and part II class that’s all about using the elements of visual design to create stronger more memorable photos.

I recently finished my new inaugural class on how to incorporate the six principles of Gestalt (which deals in “Visual Perception”), into fellow photographer’s imagery. I also teach these same principles in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the planet.

The six principles most commonly thought of are: Figure-Ground, Similarity, Closure, The Law of Common Fate, Continuance, and Proximity. When used correctly, they are guaranteed to be effective in taking your photos up several levels.

These principles are not difficult to learn and use. Truth be told, many of you may have been using these principles but didn’t realize it. All you knew is that for some reason people really liked your pictures!!! Until approx. fifteen years ago, in a forty-four year career in the advertising and corporate world of photography, I didn’t realize it myself and if I would have heard the word Gestalt, I probably would have thought someone had sneezed and looked around to say “God bless you”.

It was serendipity that I happened to be reading an article and realized that these six principles could be applied to Photography. Now it’s an important part of not only my thought process, but everyone that has taken any of my classes or workshops.

Here is a slideshow of just some of the images from my class. There were so many that it became difficult to narrow it down as much as I did. These represent all the different principles and I expect you’ll be as impressed as I was when I first saw them as submissions.

Btw, In my class there’s no Photoshop allowed and any cropping has to be done in the camera. All photos were created just as you see them without any additional help. It’s about becoming good photographers, not good computer artists.