Avoid having subjects in the center of the photo

The Rule of Thirds means that every photo is divided into thirds horizontally and vertically.

 

Good Design

The Rule of thirds is a universal design principle that says in essence that your mom was wrong. Mom wanted to make sure every face was in the middle of the picture and this is where we turn that idea upside down.

Imagine a tic-tac-toe board over your photo. Elements of the photo that we want people to care about should exist along these lines. Also, where these lines intersect each other, tends to be a great place to put the most important elements in a photo.

• Horizons exist either in the bottom third or the top third of an image
• Eyeballs of humans or pets, or even car headlights look correct when positioned at these intersection points
• Use natural lines in your photo by placing them on the third lines
• For added drama, use strong colours or shapes to separate the image into thirds

 

Recomposition

In Lesson 10 of the Intro Course, we learned the technique of recomposition. The reason we use recomposition for most shots is for design reasons like the rule of thirds. With recomposition, we pick what we want in focus and then put that element where we want in the photo.

 

 

Rule of Thirds

Here are some sample images that I feel exemplify the idea of the Rule of Thirds.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”39″ gal_title=”Rule of Thirds Lesson 4 Composition Gallery”]

 

EXERCISE: Using some still life items such as a coffee mug or glass of wine 😉 focus and then recompose so that the subject is moved to the one third line on the left or right of the image.

EXERCISE: Take a landscape photo outside. Focus at the horizon and then recompose so that the horizon is on the top one third line. Take a second shot so that horizon is on the bottom third line.  

 

 

EXERCISE: Shoot a close portrait of a pet or human model. Focus on the eyes and recompose to have the eyes on the top one third line. (sample below)