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Composition & Visual Design

Law of Similarity

The gestalt principle that elements sharing shape, colour, size or texture are perceived as related.

In depth

Similarity lets a photographer create a visual link between elements that are physically separated — three red objects in different corners will be read as a set. It also means that the one element which does not match becomes conspicuous, which is the mechanism behind almost every 'odd one out' photograph.

Examples in practice

A row of identical yellow chairs with one blue chair among them makes the blue one the subject automatically.