Gestalt Principles
Written by Abin Alex and Anu Joseph.
Abstract
Gestalt psychology holds that the eye organises a scene into wholes before it reads the parts. This guide explains figure and ground and the grouping principles of proximity, similarity, continuity, closure and common fate, as set out by Wertheimer in 1923 and reviewed by Wagemans and colleagues in 2012. It covers newer principles such as common region and connectedness, shows how photographers and filmmakers use the principles to frame and separate subjects, and explains why principles compete, so they are best treated as tendencies, not fixed laws.
Keywords: Gestalt principles; perceptual grouping; figure and ground; proximity and similarity; visual perception
- What is Gestalt psychology?
- What are figure and ground?
- What is the principle of proximity?
- What is the principle of similarity?
- What is the principle of continuity?
- What is the principle of closure?
- What is the principle of common fate?
- What are simplicity and the newer principles?
- How do I use the principles, and where do they fail?
What is Gestalt psychology?
Short answer. Gestalt psychology studies how we see wholes. The eye groups parts into forms before it reads the parts one by one.
- Gestalt is a German word meaning form, shape or configuration. In modern German it also carries the sense of the way a thing has been put together.
- The idea is that a whole is seen as more than the sum of its parts. Twenty dots arranged in a ring are seen as a circle, and the same dots scattered are seen as dots (Figure 1).
- The three founders were Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler. All three were German researchers.
- Wertheimer's 1923 paper set out the grouping factors that teachers still use today: proximity, similarity, common fate and good continuation, with closure and other whole properties (Wagemans et al., 2012).
- Your course slides call these laws. Researchers treat them as tendencies that hold when other things are equal (Wagemans et al., 2012). This guide says principle for that reason.
- Visual perception is the ability to take in the world from visible light. Gestalt principles describe one step of it, the step where the eye organises the scene.
A photograph is a flat field of marks. Gestalt principles tell you which marks the viewer will join together, before the viewer reads any detail.
A film frame is seen for a short time. The viewer groups the frame by these principles first, so the grouping decides what is noticed first.
Cham tipBefore you press the shutter, squint. Notice which parts join into groups.
Cham taskTake one photograph. List the groups the eye makes in the first second.
Check yourself: Why do we say principles and not laws?
Researchers treat them as tendencies that hold when other things are equal.
What are figure and ground?
Short answer. Figure is the shape the eye takes as the subject. Ground is what it sits on. The eye separates the two before anything else.
- The figure is the subject in focus in the visual field. The ground is the area behind it.
- Edgar Rubin first described the difference between figure and ground in 1915. A smaller enclosed area tends to be seen as figure, and the surrounding area as ground (Pind, 2012).
- Rubin noted that the figure tends to look closer, to have a clear shape, and to be remembered more. The ground looks like it extends behind (Pind, 2012).
- Classic factors that favour figure are convexity, symmetry, small region and surroundedness (Wagemans et al., 2012). Figure 3 shows three of them.
- In the vase picture the white and dark areas swap roles. You can see a vase or two faces, but not both at once (Figure 2).
- In a photograph, light, sharpness, colour and size all help the subject read as figure.
Separate the subject from the background with light, focus or colour. If the ground is as busy as the figure, the eye has nothing to settle on.
Rack focus changes which part of the frame is figure. The ground can become the subject without the camera moving.
Cham tipAsk which shape is the figure. If you cannot say, the frame is not ready.
Cham taskFind a photograph where the figure and ground are unclear. Re-shoot it so the subject stands out.
Check yourself: What did Rubin describe in 1915?
The difference between figure and ground.
What is the principle of proximity?
Short answer. Things that are close together are seen as a group. Things far apart are seen as separate.
- Closer objects are mentally grouped. Wertheimer described this as the effect of relative distance (Wagemans et al., 2012).
- In text, letters in a word are closer together than the gap between words, so we read words and not a string of letters (Figure 5).
- In a grid of dots, closer vertical spacing gives columns and closer horizontal spacing gives rows (Figure 4).
- In a photograph, subjects that stand close together read as related. A subject placed far away reads as separate.
- Placing a far subject next to another one can make them seem to interact. This is a framing choice that changes the meaning.
- Objects can be arranged side by side, up and down, or front to back, and proximity works in all three.
Move your position until two subjects are close, or far, as the picture needs. Small steps change how the pair is read.
Blocking is proximity at work. Actors who stand close read as allies, and a gap on screen reads as distance between them.
Cham tipCheck the gaps between subjects. Gaps tell the viewer who belongs together.
Cham taskPhotograph three people twice: once close together, once apart. Describe how the story changes.
Check yourself: What does proximity group?
Things that are close together.
What is the principle of similarity?
Short answer. Things that look alike in shape, size, colour or texture are seen as a group.
- Wertheimer described similarity with dots of the same colour banding together, and with other qualities such as loudness (Wertheimer, 1923).
- Similar shape, size, colour, texture or any other quality can group objects as one whole.
- In Figure 6 the grid is equally spaced, so colour or shape alone decides the grouping.
- In a photograph, people in matching clothes read as a team. A single figure in a different colour stands apart.
- Wertheimer treated similarity as a special case of a wider pull toward a good form (Wertheimer, 1923).
- Use repeated shapes, such as windows, arches or umbrellas, to build a pattern in the frame.
Look for repeated colour or shape and frame it so that the repeat is clear. Then break the pattern with one different object as the focal point.
Costume and set colour group characters. A character in a different colour reads as an outsider.
Cham tipOne different object in a group of similar ones draws the eye.
Cham taskPhotograph a group of similar objects with one that differs. Say what the viewer sees first.
Check yourself: What can similarity group?
Things alike in shape, size, colour or texture.
What is the principle of continuity?
Short answer. The eye follows a straight line or smooth curve and expects it to go on, rather than turn sharply.
- Objects arranged along a line or smooth curve tend to be seen as one.
- Wertheimer called this the factor of direction. A line is seen continuing along its own path (Wertheimer, 1923).
- Where two lines cross, the eye follows each one straight through. It does not read four separate bent pieces (Figure 7).
- Roads, rivers, railings and shadows work as lines that lead the eye through a frame.
- A line that leaves the frame at an edge sends the eye out of the picture. A line that ends at the subject holds the eye.
- Continuity and closure can conflict. Closure can override continuation, so the same elements may read as two crossing lines or two angles (Wagemans et al., 2012).
Place a leading line so that it runs toward the subject and ends there, not at the edge of the frame.
Eyelines and movement lines work as continuity. The next shot should pick up the line where the last one left it.
Cham tipFollow your leading line with your eye. Make sure it ends on the subject.
Cham taskFind three leading lines in a street. Photograph each so the line ends at a subject.
Check yourself: What does the eye do with a line?
Follows it straight on, expecting it to continue.
What is the principle of closure?
Short answer. The eye completes incomplete forms and sees them as whole shapes.
- Incomplete forms are perceived as though they were complete.
- A ring of dashes reads as a circle. Three notched discs read as a white triangle that is not drawn (Figure 8).
- Wertheimer noted that closed units are seen as wholes, and also that closure does not always win over other factors (Wertheimer, 1923).
- In a photograph, a silhouette with part of its outline lost in shadow still reads as a complete figure.
- This lets you crop or leave part of the subject out and still be understood. It also invites the viewer to take part by filling the gap.
- Do not rely on closure when the missing part is the important part. The viewer may complete it wrongly.
Let shadow or the frame edge cut part of a subject, when the shape that remains is clear enough to complete.
Off-screen space uses closure. A shadow or a hand at the frame edge implies a person the viewer completes.
Cham tipCheck that enough of the shape is left. If you doubt it, include more.
Cham taskPhotograph a silhouette with part of it lost in shadow. Ask three people what they see.
Check yourself: What does closure do?
Completes incomplete forms so they read as whole.
What is the principle of common fate?
Short answer. Things that move in the same direction are seen as a group.
- Wertheimer called this uniform destiny. Elements that move or shift together are seen as one group (Wertheimer, 1923).
- In Figure 9 the dots are mixed in space, but the ones moving the same way are seen together.
- In a still photograph the movement is implied, by blur, by pose, or by direction of travel. This is a teaching use of the principle, not a tested finding.
- A flock of birds, a crowd walking one way, or runners in a race read as a unit.
- One figure moving against the crowd stands out because it breaks the shared direction.
- In film the principle works in real movement, so a group of actors moving together reads as a group.
Use a slower shutter speed or a panning shot so the shared direction of the group shows as blur.
Camera movement can share a fate with a subject. When the camera tracks with a walker, the walker and the frame read as one.
Cham tipFind the one subject that moves differently. It will be the focus.
Cham taskPhotograph a crowd with one person moving against it. Note where the eye lands.
Check yourself: What does common fate group?
Things that move in the same direction.
What are simplicity and the newer principles?
Short answer. The eye settles on the simplest reading of a scene. Later research added common region and connectedness.
- Wertheimer's law of Prägnanz is the tendency for what we see to take the simplest and most complete form that the conditions allow (Wagemans et al., 2012).
- Your slide says simplicity includes all the other laws. Wertheimer himself treated similarity as a special case of a good form (Wertheimer, 1923). Treat the claim as wider than the evidence.
- A circle overlapping a square is read as two whole shapes, one in front of the other, and not as three odd pieces (Figure 10).
- Common region means that elements inside the same outline group together. Element connectedness means that elements joined by a line group together (Wagemans et al., 2012).
- A third newer idea is synchrony, where elements that change at the same time group together. Its existence and mechanism are still debated (Wagemans et al., 2012).
- Symmetric and asymmetric arrangements both obey simplicity. Symmetry reads as stable, and asymmetry can read as tense or lively.
A frame with fewer, clearer shapes reads faster. Remove what does not help before you compose.
A frame built with a border, a doorway or a window uses common region. It groups what is inside the frame.
Cham tipCommon region is a quick grouping tool: a window, door or arch contains a subject.
Cham taskPhotograph a subject inside a doorway or window. Compare it with the same subject in open space.
Check yourself: What is common region?
Elements inside the same outline group together.
How do I use the principles, and where do they fail?
Short answer. Use them to decide what groups with what. Remember that they compete, and that they are tendencies, not rules.
- Before you shoot, ask what the viewer will group by distance, by likeness, by line, by gap, by movement and by shared region.
- Isolate a subject by giving it space, a different colour or a different direction (Figure 12).
- The principles compete. Closeness and likeness can agree or pull apart (Figure 13).
- When proximity and similarity both act, their effects have been reported to add up, not to have one simply win (Wagemans et al., 2012).
- Past experience can also change grouping, but Wertheimer argued that habit alone could not explain the patterns he found (Wertheimer, 1923).
- Table 1 sums up each principle. The photographic examples in it are for teaching and have not been tested in the cited studies.
| Principle | What the eye does | Photographic example |
|---|---|---|
| Figure and ground | Separates a shape from its surroundings | A sharp subject against a blurred wall |
| Proximity | Groups things that are near each other | Two people standing close read as a pair |
| Similarity | Groups things that look alike | Students in matching uniforms read as one group |
| Continuity | Follows a line or curve straight on | A road or railing leads the eye through the frame |
| Closure | Completes a gap to make a whole shape | A silhouette with a broken outline still reads as a person |
| Common fate | Groups things moving the same way | A flock of birds, or a crowd walking one direction |
| Simplicity (Pragnanz) | Settles on the simplest reading | Overlapping shapes read as whole shapes behind each other |
Table 1. Gestalt principles and how each shows in photographs. The examples are teaching illustrations, not findings from the cited studies.
If a picture feels confusing, find which principles disagree. Fix the one that matters most, usually by moving a subject or changing the crop.
Check each shot for grouping when you plan coverage. A frame that groups the wrong people sends the wrong message.
Cham tipList the principles at work in a frame. If two disagree, decide which one the story needs.
Cham taskTake a busy scene and shoot it twice. In the second shot, remove one grouping cue that confuses.
Check yourself: Why do the principles sometimes fail?
They compete with each other and are tendencies, not strict rules.
Questions beginners ask
What are Gestalt principles?
They describe how the eye groups visual parts into wholes. The main ones are proximity, similarity, continuity, closure, common fate and figure and ground.
Who started Gestalt psychology?
Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler, German researchers. Wertheimer's 1923 paper set out the grouping factors.
What is figure and ground?
The figure is the shape seen as the subject and the ground is what lies behind it. Edgar Rubin described it in 1915.
What is the difference between proximity and similarity?
Proximity groups things that are near each other. Similarity groups things that look alike, even if they are apart.
Are Gestalt laws strict rules?
No. Researchers treat them as tendencies that hold when other things are equal, and they can conflict.
How do photographers use Gestalt principles?
They use them to separate a subject, group related people, lead the eye with lines and decide what to leave out.
References
- Pind, J.L. (2012) 'Looking back: figure and ground at 100', The Psychologist, 13 January. Available at: https://bps.org.uk/psychologist/looking-back-figure-and-ground-100 (Accessed: 31 October 2026).
- Wagemans, J., Elder, J.H., Kubovy, M., Palmer, S.E., Peterson, M.A., Singh, M. and von der Heydt, R. (2012) 'A century of Gestalt psychology in visual perception: I. Perceptual grouping and figure-ground organization', Psychological Bulletin, 138(6), pp. 1172-1217. doi:10.1037/a0029333.
- Wertheimer, M. (1923) 'Untersuchungen zur Lehre von der Gestalt II', Psychologische Forschung, 4, pp. 301-350. English translation: 'Laws of organization in perceptual forms', in Ellis, W.D. (ed.) (1938) A source book of Gestalt psychology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, pp. 71-88. Available at: https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Wertheimer/Forms/forms (Accessed: 31 October 2026).
How to cite this guide. Alex, A., & Joseph, A. (2026). Gestalt principles: A guide for photographers and cinematographers. Creative Hut Academy. https://creativehut.org/library/gestalt-principles/
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