Image Analysis: The Bright In The Dark

(Source: Art in Nature Photography website)

The origin of this photography is taken by Floris van Breugel in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. This image showed the sensually carved curves in the “Subway” of Utah’s Zion National Park and it is illuminated by the reflected light in the late afternoon (Breugel, n.d.). The reason I used “The bright in the dark” as the title is because this photography is giving me a hope when I am in the situation that is not really good. This photography gives a feel like do not lose the hope when doing a thing, dreams will come true if you believe and put effort on it. I chose this image is because this image is a real photography that was taken by someone in real life but not a graphic that was drawn by someone although it is look like a drawing image. This photography shows that how beautiful and awesome of the nature in the earth.

Gestalt Theory
         The Gestalt psychologist Kurt Koffka made a famous statement “The whole is different from the sum of its parts” (Dewey, n.d.). Gestalt theory means that the sum is greater than its parts. We are capable of mentally assembling separate objects into a seemingly logical new whole (MTSU, n.d.). The layer of perceptual process is not learned. The human brain is “hard wired” to perceive the world this way as a result of the evolutionary process (Zemmels, n.d.). Discrete elements within a scene are combined and understood by the brain through a series of four fundamental principles or grouping. There are similarity, proximity (or common fate), continuation and closure.

         First, the element of continuation in Gestalt theory is applied in this image. Continuation occurs when the eyes are compelled to move through one object to another object. We tend to assign objects to an entity that is defined by smooth lines or curve. In this photography, as we can see the line that is leading us to look at the hole with light. This is because our eyes are inclined to follow lines and curves. So, if the objects are arranged along paths, then we perceive a larger construct and also a sense of movement (MTSU, n.d.).

        In this photography, we can see the overall colour is contrast because there is the saturated hue of the colour of sunlight which is orange colour contrast with the colour in the cave which is the cold colour such as green colour and blue colour. The Value of colour in this image is determines the darkness is in its shade. The contrasting colours enhance the form of the object in this image and provide a sense of depth. The value of colour in this image is used to guide the viewers’ eyes and create the emphasis in a composition. 

References:

Breugel, FV n.d., Water Sculpture, viewed 24 March 2017,

<http://www.artinnaturephotography.com/photo/subway-left-fork-in-reflected-light/?gallery=southwest>

MTSU, n.d., ‘Six Theories of Visual Communication’, MTSU School of Journalism, viewed 24 March 2017,

<http://mtsujournalism.org/vcom_materials/design/vcom.6_theories.pdf>

Dewey, RA n.d., “THE WHOLE IS OTHER THAN THE SUM OF THE PARTS”, viewed 24 March 2017,

<http://www.intropsych.com/ch04_senses/whole_is_other_than_the_sum_of_the_parts.html>

Zemmels, D n.d., Visual Communication Theories, viewed 24 March 2017,

<http://www.loyno.edu/~zemmels/A201/lecture/visual_theory/comm_theory.html>