The rule of thirds
13/09/07 23:03 Filed in: Photography
Since we often use photographs as mementos our gut
instinct is to include everything in the picture.
This can cause us to make two photographic blunders:
firstly including to much detail or clutter in the
photo and not giving enough detail to your subject;
and secondly putting your subject right in the dead
centre of the photo. In my 101 tips for
better photos I mentioned that one trick
that professional photographers use to make
there photos more dynamic, since the eye is
naturally drawn to a point about one third of
the way up the page.
So what is the rule of thirds?
The rule of thirds involves dividing your picture into an imaginary 3x3 block, as if you were placing a tic-tac-toe (X's and O's) grid over your viewfinder. The first thing that you must decide upon is what should be the subject of your photo. If you can limit your photo to having only one subject all the better. You don't want various objects in your shots competing for attention. Minimalism is the key here. I will use a photo to demonstrate the technique.
In this photo I wanted to draw attention to the baby's face and more precisely her eyes. Thus, the face will be the subject of the photo. We should not confuse the term "subject" with how we generally use the term in English. In photography the subject doesn't have to be a person (although it can be) and doesn't have to be a whole entity, but rather can be a particular detail you want to highlight.
Once you have decided upon what is your subject will be it is time to set up our imaginary grid.
Ideally we want to place our subject in one of the four points where the lines intersect. Which of the four points you choose is up to you. Play around and see what works best for your composition. If you are not a visual person and find it hard to imagine a grid, don't worry. The most important thing is not have your subject right in the centre of your photo, i.e. the middle square.
Neither should you worry about capturing the subject right at the intersection point but within a broad radius of this intersection point.
Regardless of whether your print dimensions are horizontal, vertical or square the rule of thirds can still be applied. If after all your efforts you still don't manage to get it right you can always crop you picture later on in the photo lab or digital darkroom.
While the rule of thirds is a useful technique there are situations when you will want to break it. Disregarding everything that we talked about previously, which of the two picture below do you prefer?
The right answer is that it really doesn't matter. There will be people who prefer the first and those that prefer the second. It is really a matter of taste. If you feel that your picture will look better with your subject smack bang in the middle of the photo go for it. If you still can't decide, take two photos. It's the best of both worlds!
Here are some useful links about the rule of thirds:
http://www.aea1.k12.ia.us/lois/ruleofthirds.html
http://photospot2004.blogspot.com/2004/07/rule-of-thirds.html
http://www.colorpilot.com/comp_rules.html
http://www.photocritic.org/2007/the-rule-of-thirds/
Share it!
So what is the rule of thirds?
The rule of thirds involves dividing your picture into an imaginary 3x3 block, as if you were placing a tic-tac-toe (X's and O's) grid over your viewfinder. The first thing that you must decide upon is what should be the subject of your photo. If you can limit your photo to having only one subject all the better. You don't want various objects in your shots competing for attention. Minimalism is the key here. I will use a photo to demonstrate the technique.
In this photo I wanted to draw attention to the baby's face and more precisely her eyes. Thus, the face will be the subject of the photo. We should not confuse the term "subject" with how we generally use the term in English. In photography the subject doesn't have to be a person (although it can be) and doesn't have to be a whole entity, but rather can be a particular detail you want to highlight.
Once you have decided upon what is your subject will be it is time to set up our imaginary grid.
Ideally we want to place our subject in one of the four points where the lines intersect. Which of the four points you choose is up to you. Play around and see what works best for your composition. If you are not a visual person and find it hard to imagine a grid, don't worry. The most important thing is not have your subject right in the centre of your photo, i.e. the middle square.
Neither should you worry about capturing the subject right at the intersection point but within a broad radius of this intersection point.
Regardless of whether your print dimensions are horizontal, vertical or square the rule of thirds can still be applied. If after all your efforts you still don't manage to get it right you can always crop you picture later on in the photo lab or digital darkroom.
While the rule of thirds is a useful technique there are situations when you will want to break it. Disregarding everything that we talked about previously, which of the two picture below do you prefer?
The right answer is that it really doesn't matter. There will be people who prefer the first and those that prefer the second. It is really a matter of taste. If you feel that your picture will look better with your subject smack bang in the middle of the photo go for it. If you still can't decide, take two photos. It's the best of both worlds!
Here are some useful links about the rule of thirds:
http://www.aea1.k12.ia.us/lois/ruleofthirds.html
http://photospot2004.blogspot.com/2004/07/rule-of-thirds.html
http://www.colorpilot.com/comp_rules.html
http://www.photocritic.org/2007/the-rule-of-thirds/
Share it!