Tuesday 28 October 2025
Kevin led a Composition Workshop, providing members with a structured exploration of the principles and psychology underpinning photographic composition.
The workshop began with an overview of foundational techniques, including the Rule of Thirds, Symmetry, Leading Lines, Framing within a Frame, and the Rule of Odds. These concepts were illustrated through examples from noted photographers such as Chris Killip, André Kertész, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, demonstrating how compositional choices influence balance, depth, and visual storytelling.
The workshop then introduced psychological aspects of image perception. Participants examined Roland Barthes’ concepts of Studium and Punctum and explored key principles from Gestalt theory, of which the foundational principle states that we naturally perceive things in their simplest form or organisation. We explored 5 of the Gestalt principles:
- Figure – Ground: The relationship between the subject(s) and the Ground (background / negative space).
- Proximity: The principle of proximity states that objects near each other tend to be viewed as a group / together as one.
- Similarity: How we naturally group similar items together based on elements like colour, size, and orientation.
- Continuity: How we perceive elements arranged on a line or curve as related to each other, while elements that are not on the line or curve are seen as separate.
- Closure: We will fill in missing information to create closure and make sense of an object.
A series of practical exercises which allowed members to apply and experiment with these principles. Tasks included leading-line and depth exercises, figure–ground isolation and framing techniques. Each activity encouraged critical observation, intentional design, and controlled experimentation.
The workshop concluded by emphasising that while compositional “rules” provide valuable guidance, the most engaging photographs often result from understanding these principles well enough to depart from them deliberately/ intentionally.