Project 52, Week Four, The Rule of Thirds

Last week we studied the Rule of Odds.  Not coincidentally, this week's topic is the Rule of Thirds, probably the most well known photographic composition rule. 

Basically, the rule says to divide your scene into thirds vertically and horizontally so you have 9 sections (like a tic-tac-toe game).  Place the most important elements of the scene at (near) one of the four intersections, the points of focus, or along the lines.  For example,

• Avoid placing the primary subject smack in the middle of the photo. 
• If the primary subject is vertical (more tall than wide like a lighthouse or most people), place it along the left or right lines.
• If the sky is more interesting, place the horizon along the bottom line and at the top line if you want to emphasize the foreground. 
• For portraits, place the eyes along or near the top horizontal line.  This applies to pictures of people and animals.
• If the subject is looking left or moving to the left, place the subject along the right vertical line to "give them room".  Then conversely, if the subject is looking/moving right, placement is along the left vertical line.

There are times to break the Rule of Thirds without hesitation or guilt. That time would come when the composition of your photograph is better without the rule than with it.  Perhaps when your composition wants to emphasize the symmetry of a scene.

To practice viewing the Rule of Thirds in action, I inserted photos into PowerPoint and pasted a grid like this over them, re-sizing it as necessary to fit the photo.  I then noted if I thought the Rule or Thirds was followed and if it enhanced the composition.  I cropped some photographs that I thought did not follow the Rule and then overlaid them with the grid again to see if that improved the composition.

Suggested Reading and Photographs:

1. Composition: Rule of Thirds from Cambridge in Colour
2. Creativity and the Rule of Thirds by Jim Altengarten, and Guidelines for Better Photographic Composition: Rule of Thirds from photoinf.com
3. Break the Rule of Thirds from Digital Photography School
4. The Rule of Thirds from Silverlight
5. Photographic Composition: The Rule of Thirds and the Horizontal Line from Valerie Hayken's Photo-Talk

Photography is Golden aka The Golden Rules

There are other Rules based on mathematical equations that are somewhat (a little to a lot) more complicated to understand than the Rule of Thirds.  If you're interested, here are some resources:

1. The Golden Mean from Photozone
2. The Golden Ratio from An Open Ended Course in Photography, includes The Rule of Thirds, The Golden Triangle, and The Golden Spiral
3. The Golden Ratio from ThincTanc
4. The Golden Spiral from fabiovisentin.com
5. Dividing the Frame from The Art of Photography, includes The Golden Section, Golden Triangles,and The Golden Spiral
6. Diagonal Method from Diagonal Method