All Day I Dream About Photography

Composition: Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is probably the oldest trick in the bag, I don’t think there is any photography related website on the internet that doesn’t talk about it.
However old it remains one of the most important rules to learn and the easiest way to drastically improve your pictures.

Many beginners, inspired by a scene, point their cameras and, with no more thinking, place the subject dead in the middle of the frame and shoot.
This will lead the resultant image to be rather boring and dull , a much better approach is use the “rule of thirds”.

This rule stays that if the main object is located at one of the four below shown point, the picture will have a greater effect than if it was in the center.
Tip: you can always use the focus points in your view finder as “point de repère”

Please also note that from the above four stated locations, locations 1 and 2 are slightly stronger since most of people around the word read from left to right so naturally the eye will enter the frame from the bottom left corner drift through the whole image and finally rest at point 1 or 2.

Edward Weston once said “Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk” so this rule is to be used just as a guideline and not as rigid theorem.
Learn it, practice it, and once you know it, if you must, break it.

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