The Rule of Thirds is a compositional guideline that breaks the image down into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. The subject of the composition is then placed on one of the intersections or on a line itself. Here is a visualization of the Rule of Thirds:
For example, if you were shooting a portrait, you would put the subjects eye and one of the "power points" which are the four inner intersections. If you were shooting a landscape, the horizon line would be at the top or bottom gridline. Below is one of my landscape images, and as you can see, the sky takes up the top third, the mountains and trees are in the middle third, and the foreground is the bottom third. While these are exact measurement, you can get an idea of how the Rule of Thirds works.
Now, like everything in art and life, rules are meant to be broken. Just because your image doesn't follow this "rule" doesn't mean it is not good or is uninteresting. Art is a product of the artist and while this rule (and others we will talk about later) are a great place to start your photography journey, they are not written in stone and some of the best artists completely throw the rules out the window.
Until next time, Keep Shooting!
Comments