Rule of Thirds in Photography
Use our rule of thirds in photography tips for better composition to create artistic images.
Photography Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds is generally considered one of the most powerful composition guidelines. Instinctively, we tend to place our main subject dead-centre in our photos, or if taking a landscape, place the horizon right along the central line of our view. Neither of these is wrong, it’s just that they don’t make for an artistic composition. Move the subject off-centre or move the horizon up or down, and suddenly the photos come alive.
Imagine a grid over your photo, with a pair of lines dividing the scene vertically into three and another pair doing likewise horizontally. Now, place your principal subject at one of the intersections of the horizontal and vertical lines and the horizon against one of the horizontal lines. If the main subject is vertical, place it inside the left-or right-hand third of the frame. If you’re shooting a portrait, the eyes ideally should be on one of the horizontals too.
Photo Credit: Google Images
That, in essence, is the rule of thirds. Place key elements at these points and the composition of your photograph will be that much more eye-pleasing. To make it even easier, many digital cameras have a rule of thirds grid on the screen that you can overlay when composing a photo.
Of course every rule is made to be broken, and there are some types of shot where the rule of thirds simply doesn’t apply. Keep experimenting and analyse what gives your images the most depth and excitement.
Bending the Rule of Thirds
If you find that your composition is not as eye-pleasing as you would like it to be at one-third, feel free to experiment by trying other viewpoints such as one-fourth, one-fifth, or one-eights view. Create the same lines as you would by dividing the frame into thirds but increase to fifths by using 4 lines both horizontally and vertically. Place the subject at the points that intersect at the corners of the frame or place the horizon line at one-fifth from the top or bottom of the frame.
Tips for Implementing the Rule of Thirds
• As with all rules, don’t stick to this one rigidly. If you feel your shots will benefit from a slightly different composition, do it. It’s the basic idea that matters. The advantage of digital photography is that you can experiment.
• To understand the many ways in which the rule of thirds can be interpreted, take a look at some photos you like and imagine the grid overlaid on them.
• If you didn’t quite get it right in the field, consider cropping your photograph in post-production to make it conform better to the rule of thirds.
• Use your camera’s rule of thirds grid option until you feel you’ve mastered this important compositional skill.
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