Photography design principles according to Johannes Itten (part 1/2)

Johannes Itten (1888 – 1967) was a Swiss painter, designer, teacher, writer and theorist associated with the Bauhaus before starting his own school in Berlin. He won the Sikkens Prize in 1965.

One of Itten's paintings from 1916, Der BachSanger (Helge Lindberg):

Except for this painting of Itten, all images below are mine. Feel free to use them as you like (even for commercial purposes), but please credit them to me: for example add "(c) David Joyner used by permission." The basic references used here are

1. M. Freeman, The Photographer’s Eye, Focal Press, 2007. (Note: The latest 2019 edition has no mention of Itten in the index, but the original 2007 version does.)
2. J. Itten, Mein Vorkurs am Bauhaus. Gestaltungs und Formelehre, Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg (1963). Translated as Design and Form: The Basic Course at the Bauhaus, Thames and Hudson, London (1964).

Design principle: Two important ingredients of photographic composition are contrast and balance.

Balance is the relationship between contrasting elements.

Laws of form, discussed in detail below, describe these relationships.

Contrasts come in a variety of manners. This post illustrates some of the basic contrasts according to Itten.

We will see how Itten introduces other design elements via his "laws of form". For example, two other design elements entering into photography are:

Direction: Using implied movement (via motion blur, for example) to create the illusion of displacement.

Rhythm: A repetition of one or more elements, creating harmony.

Laws of Form and Shape

In design theory, "form" is any visual element in an image, as opposed to we commonly call "negative space" (an area of the image with little or no contrast value). Sometimes a form is also called a "positive value" in the image, while a "negative value" is really negative space in the image.

1. Proximity - Nearby visual elements are grouped together in the mind
   
   In this example, the cars/gondolas of the ferris wheel and the birds lined up on the railing get grouped into shapes.
2. Similarity - Similar visual elements in a photograph are grouped together in the mind
   
   In this example the vertical stripes of apartments with the same colors are grouped together.
3. Closure - Visual elements which are grouped together form an outline shape
   
   In this example the triangles of books at the Peabody Library get grouped together.
4. Simplicity - The mind tends to prefer simpler compositions (symmetry, balance, simple shapes)
   
   In this example there are only two colors (blue and tan) and two objects (one bird and one building). The building is made of simple rectangle.
5. Continuation - The mind tends to continue shapes and lines beyond where they end.
   
   In the above example, the rows of cemetery tombstones seem to go on forever.
6. Continuation, 2 - Grouped elements with an implied motion are assumed to move together.
   
   In the above example, the runner and 1st baseman move in sync with the out-of-shot baseball.
7. Continuation, 3 - The mind tends to continue shapes and lines beyond where they end.
   
   In the above example, the skater is mostly seen in shadow, but we know he’s there.
8. Separation - To be perceived, the object must stand out from its background.
   
   Of course this collage-type shot (it's from a single shot of a lamp) is artificially separated, but at least it makes Itten's idea clearer.