The “Rule of Thirds” one of the first things that budding digital photographers learn about in classes on photography and rightly so as it is the basis for well balanced and interesting shots. The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design. The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections. Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject would.
The basics of the rule of thirds:
– 9 equal boxes
– 4 intersecting points
– 2 vertical lines
– 2 horizontal lines
By placing interesting pieces of your image at these points, you can make your image well balanced and help let viewers naturally move through your image.
As you’re taking an image you would have done this in your mind through your viewfinder or in the LCD display that you use to frame your shot.
The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the center of the shot – using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it
Use this rules, is not just to photograph something that have one object, like if you was take a photo models, you place the model in the 1/3 of the frame, but you can use this rules for scenary photograp or landscape. use this rule to make a better composition.
Once you have got the hang of the Rule of Thirds you will very quickly want to break it ! This is fine. As I said earlier these ‘rules’ are best used as guidelines and if you can create a better image by bending or ignoring rules then fire away.
