The first rule of thirds is we don’t talk about The Rule of Thirds. Ok, not really. In fact, if anything, the opposite is true: We’re going to keep talking about it until, well, until it’s second nature whenever we pick up our cameras to compose a photograph.
In fact, if you’ve been following along at home, you might remember that we already discussed the importance of this rule in our look at the free tutorial series on composition from The American School of Paris a few weeks back. If you missed it, you can find it here.
Today, we’re going to look at another helpful resource on this topic from our friends at Photozone.de, which you can find in our Photobird Learning Center.
In the Photozone.de article, they consider two applications of The Rule of Thirds. The first is to divide the photographic plane into thirds to find a horizon line or other through-line of visual interest when framing your photograph in order to avoid a wholly symmetrical — and, therefore visually unappealing — photographic composition. The photo example from the article, shown above, demonstrates this concept nicely: You can see that the mountain range and the sky occupy the top third of the photograph while the land, river, and trees take up the bottom two-thirds of the frame.
In the second application, they look at the places where the lines would intersect if the photographic plane were broken into thirds both horizontally and vertically. Placing your point of focal interest on one of these axes will provide a visual anchor for the entire photograph and, as it says in the article, invite further observation of the scene you’ve composed.
How often do you use The Rule of Thirds when taking photographs? Are you conscious of it, or is it just something you’ve learned and incorporated into your shooting style? How has it helped or hurt your compositions?
