How to Use Rule of Thirds to your Advantage
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So you want to take your composition to the next level! Rule of Thirds is a great starting place to learn how to compositionally frame your photos.
What is Rule of Thirds?
Rule of thirds is an imagined grid of 9 equal boxes. This creates four lines horizontal and vertical, and creates intersections which becomes the point of interest. The basic theory is that where the intersections are is where you should place your subject as they are the natural places a viewer’s eyes will fall. It also gives you four powerful lines to place your subject in the photo.
These lines are a guideline to creating a natural composition which is pleasing to the eye.
Portrait Rule of Thirds:
In this image, you can see I tried to place myself using the rule of thirds, and tried to make my eye the main point of focus.
I had my dimensions a little off, and what ended up falling on that critical intersection was my eyebrow!
When it comes to Rule of Thirds, you always want to place the most important part of the image on the intersecting lines (in this case was my eye).
This was an easy fix with the crop and straighten tool in Lightroom.
Doing this changes the point of focus, eliminates distractions, and allows the viewer to immediately grasp what you want them to look at.
The photo from the right looks far better and more pleasing to the eye than the one on the left. It goes to show how much small adjustments can make a vast difference!
Macro Rule of Thirds:
In this photo, I didn’t have a macro lens to get close enough to this little guy, so at the time my main focus was to just capture him in his environment.
When it got to editing, I knew I could crop to what I’d want it to be.
The first composition looks messy, the lady beetle is placed in the lower middle of the frame (and definitely not on any intersection lines!).
There is a lot of negative space in the top left which is unnecessary and distracts from the main subject.
These distractions will be what a viewer looks at first, rather than what you want them to look at.
In the second photo, you can see I fixed it by cropping in, removing the unnecessary negative space, and now the lady beetle perfectly falls into the top left intersecting lines which is directly where the eye naturally falls.
The reason this method is so renowned is because it helps bring attention the main parts of your image.
I could barely see the lady beetle in the first one, but it is quite clear in the second photo that he is the star of the show!
Lanscape Photography Rule of Thirds:
In landscape photography, an easy rule to begin with is Rule of Thirds.
I took two photos to show you the difference.
The first is centred in the middle of frame. While this is still okay, you aren’t getting the most out of the photo like you could.
It leaves too much negative space at the top of frame when most of the interesting things are happening in the lower half.
In the second photo, I placed my main subject, the bridge, on the top horizontal line, and this helped define my main subject, as well as made more space at the bottom of the frame to look at the more interesting patterns in the sand, which became my second point of focus.
They say with landscape photography in particular when shooting horizons, to either place the horizon line in the top third, or the bottom third. This helps give the image a sense of balance.
If you’re sky was more interesting than the ground, you would frame the bridge in the lower third and have your sky as your second point of focus, it all depends on your environment.
This is a great and easy rule to follow, and will really help you as a beginner to compose your photos well.
This technique really helps you define what your main point of focus is for your images. It is a great way to help guide your thinking every time you go out to shoot. A good photographer always goes out and has a composition in mind, and will find the best ways to accentuate their subject in the best way possible. It all takes practise, but starting with this rule will help enormously with your first photos!
Give this a try and let me know how you go! Did your photos improve?
