the 9 Gestalt principlesby Eric Lamb

1 Figure - Background

In these pictures you can clearly see Steve Buscemi against a stark whitebackground, they clearly illustratethe importance of Steve Buscemiin the picture, he is clearly thefocus of the pictures.

What’s the blue in the background?It doesn’t matter, what matters isSteve Buscemi, he is the focus of the picture. There are actually 17 ninjas hidden behind Stevein this picture, but you can’t see them because ofSteve Buscemi’s radiant expression.

2 Grouping

Behold the magnificent organization of Google images. At the top you have various forms of Steve Buscemi, below, you have generic pictures of Steve Buscemi.The photos are grouped to display more bewildered pictures of Steve Buscemi which are more popular, followed by more normal pictures of Steve Buscemi.

Here we can see the progression of Steve

Buscemi’s emotional states. Near the top, are

pictures of Steve feeling happy and larger than

life, and as you progress towards the bottom, you

can see the darker sides of Steve Buscemi,

anger, frustration, pride, sadness and insanity.

This group of photosworks because there is no

clear moment of transition, just a gradient of

emotion that is Steve Buscemi.

3 Proximity

Here we have a snapshot from the movieReservoir dogs. We seeSteve Buscemi in closeproximity to Mr. Blue,indicating that some serious business is going down. If they were any closer they’d probably start kissing, and that would be weird. Also they are wearing the same suit, which helps define this 3rd principle of Gestalt.

Here we see Steve Buscemi

standing next to his partner in

crime, Peter Stormare in the

movie Fargo. Even if you

haven’t seen the movie Fargo,

you can tell they are partners

because of how close and

friendly they are.

4 Similarity

Here we see two side by sidepictures of Steve Buscemi andsome kind of alien muppetthing that looks a lot likeSteve Buscemi. Although atfirst glance they don’t look very similar to one another, when one compares them side by side and sees the eyes and mouth configuration, it becomes clear that this thing was probably modelled after Steve Buscemi.

Here we can clearly

see that our favorite

child actor MacaulayCulkin has facial

features that strongly

suggest that he is

the love child of

Steve Buscemi and that other guy in the bowtie who’s name I don’t know, as illustrated by the diagram above. This may or may not be true, as this is merely an artists interpretation of where Macaulay Culkin came from.

5 Continuity

Good continuity shows that the picturecontinues well outside of its borders. Who’scharming smile might this be? Anyone who’sanyone can clearly tell that these are the teethof the great Steve Buscemi, and even thoughit isn’t pictured, we can clearly imagine his strange dopey eyes above his nose.

These are the eyes of a man who knows no

limits, they’ve been plastered on to pretty much

every disney princess ever created. These

eyes represent freedom and the American

dream, and yet a bleak sadness that lurks

behind them. Any true American citizen can

tell that these are the eyes of the great

Steve Buscemi, and one can clearly imagine his uneven teeth underneath his nose even though it is not pictured.

6 Symmetry

What would Steve Buscemi’s face looklike if it were symmetrical? Here is anartists representation of what that might looklike. Clearly the stuff of nightmares. Thisimage represents the 6th principle of Gestalt because it is symmetrical. If you turnthe image upside down it’s even scarier.

Pretty much everyone has a symmetrical face.

People with unsymmetrical faces are either

shunned by society, or a celebrity. Here we see

an artists representation of what Steve Buscemi

would look like if his face was symmetrical. While some people might argue that symmetry is

beauty, we can clearly see that Steve Buscemi’s

face was fine just the way it was.

6 Closure

When you first look at this photo, you probably wonder to yourself,

What is this ugly mess of black shapes? But as you take into account

the white space in the picture, you slowly realize that it’s a really ugly

caricature of Steve Buscemi, thus bringing closure to your troubled heart

What a beautiful dress! You might find

yourself saying before you realize that it’s

Steve Buscemi’s face on the dress. Probably not

the first time Buscemi has gotten in the way of

seeing the tasty bits. Such a beautiful woman

wearing such an ugly dress, one can only

assume that she wants to bang Steve

Buscemi, or has banged Steve Buscemi, thus

bringing closure to the story of this picture

7 Leveling and Sharpening

Here we see the Beatle’s iconic albumcover Buscemi Road, displaying all fourBuscemi’s on an even plane. This helpsreduce friction in the photo becauseeverything that you need to see in thephoto is on an even plane. This is anexample of leveling.

here we see a band photo

of my band The Buscemis

and me. This is a good

example of sharpening

because none of the

people in this photo are

on the same plane of

existence.

8 Surrounding

Here we see a picture of SteveBuscemi from Fargo, in thisclassic scene from Reservoir Dogs.Although the Steve Buscemi in thispicture is clearly the Steve Buscemi from Fargo, you can tell by the surroundingsthat this a shot from Reservoir Dogs and is clearly photoshopped.

Here is the famous

Paul Bunyan statue

in Brainerd, Minnesota.You can tell by the

surroundings that this

shot was taking in Minnesota. Here we see

a lonely car driving down the road that is probably being driven by Steve Buscemi. Peter Stormare is probably in the passenger seat having a cigarette and remaining silent.

9 add dimension

Here we can see MC Escher’s famous painting,“Stairway to Heaven” whichdepicts Steve Buscemi’sneverending journey towardseternal life. This is a good example of the 9th principle of Gestalt because it givesthe illusion that Steve Buscemi only exists in 3 dimensions.

Here we can clearly see

the annual Steve Buscemi

Surf Festival, as Steve

Buscemi surfs on the tears of

his enemies. The 3D in this

image clearly suggests that

Steve Buscemi is riding the

wave, even though we all know that Steve Buscemi IS the wave.

Part 2

prepare to have your mind blown

Woah! Check out all the Gestalt principles going on in that mosh pit! 1. Figure-Background, because even though the main focus of the event is Social Overload (who kicked some serious ass that night btw), the focus of the shot is the mosh pit, mainly me about to throw up on my buddy Dan. 2. Grouping, there are are 3 groups in this photo, the mosh pit, the band, and the lame folks who aren’t in either. 3. Proximity, because you have to get close to each other to mosh. 4. Similarity, all these metal dudes look the same. 5. Continuity, you can tell that this mosh pit and crowd extends well beyond the picture, because Steve takes awesome photos. 6. Symmetry, mosh pit on the left, mosh pit on the right. 7. Level/Sharpening, this is a good example of sharpening because no 2 people exist on the same plane due to the angle of the shot, everybody is rocking out on their own plane of existence, yet together at the same time. 8. Surrounding, band surrounded by a mosh pit, surrounded by more mosh pits, surrounded by the crowd is the surrounding I want to be in. 9. Add dimension, even though this is a two dimensional image, you can tell that this image was taken in a 3D environment due to depth perspective.

Behold the lone headbanger in his natural environment. What goes up, must come down, and the thrill of the mosh pit is often followed by heavy drinking and passing out in random places, often decorated by other headbangers wishing to get a laugh. 1. Figure-background, the important part of the picture is the guy passed out on the bench, the background doesn’t matter, he could be passed out in the dirt, or in a gutter on the side of the road, or anywhere else. 2. Grouping, look at the delicate arrangement of the cups grouped together on top of the sleeping rocker. 3. Proximity, one might argue that this man was close to getting laid that night, but he got too drunk, now the only thing he’s close to is the floor and maybe alcohol poisoning. 4. Similarity, this picture is similar to many pictures the night before, same guy, passed out in different places. 5. Continuity, you bet that after a quick power nap, this guy woke up and continued partying. 6. Symmetry, notice the symmetry of the table next to him, the x pattern of the legs clearly indicates that the table was of intelligent design. 7. Leveling and sharpening, notice again the delicate arrangement of cups, this is an example of sharpening because the cups are on different levels. 8. Surrounding, I’ve passed out in worse surroundings, this show was at the Orchid, North of Goleta on a farm next to the beach. It was pretty cool, there were skate ramps and a petting zoo too. 9. Add dimension. You can tell that this image was taken in a 3D environment by the depth perspective of whoever took the picture, even though the image itself is a two dimensional image. Also the ridges on the wall reflect light and cast shadows, thus telling you that this is probably not a painting.

The Gestalt principles are off the charts in this picture, not to mention how hard those guys rocked that night. 1. Figure-background, as you can clearly see, the focus of the shot is the two naked dudes that are rocking out on stage, however, lots of interesting things are going on in the background. 2. Grouping, although this isn’t their full band, these two make enough noise for an entire group of people. Also look at the grouping of the skinned baseballs next to the projector, screen. 3. Proximity, These guys are close friends and were close to tearing a hole in downtown Santa Barbara with their awesome riffs. 4. Similarity, these two dudes are both missing most of their clothes. 5. Continuity, even though people stopped playing Smash Bros, these dudes continued to rock into the night. 6. Symmetry, well there actually isn’t much symmetry happening in this picture, unless you count the curtains. 7. Leveling and sharpening, even though one of these dudes was really high, and the other one really drunk, they were on the same level when they were rocking out, and on the same stage, so they’re literally level with each other. 8. Surrounding, nothing is better than being surrounded by awesome music and the people you love, but look at the awesome surroundings at the hookah lounge, they really make you feel at home. Each one of those pictures was made specifically for the hookah lounge. You can tell just by looking around, this isn’t just any ordinary hookah lounge, many awesome times were had in that place, and as you can tell by the picture, awesome times are still happening there to this day. 9. Add dimension, if you can’t already tell, these guys are rocking so hard, that they’re pushing the boundaries of time and space, drifting far off into the fourth dimension (we were streaming that show, so you could say that we were omni-present).

Thank you for watching my powerpoint presentation, have a great day and may the riffs be with you! \m/

Please give me a good grade

I am not a very smart person