Basic Photography Tips - Rule of Thirds in Composition

The rule of thirds is one of the most basic composition inphotography. The rule of thirds makes use of a natural phenomena of thehuman eye to be more strongly drawn towards some parts of an image. 

What is the Rule of Thirds?

 

The rule of thirds is an imaginary tic-tac-toe board is drawn acrossan image to break it into nine equal squares. The four points wherethese lines intersect are strongest focal points. The lines themselvesare the second strongest focal points.

 
How Do I Use It?

To use the rule of thirds you need to imagine the grid on all of yourimages as you compose them in the viewfinder. If you have an autofocuscamera You can use the autofocus points as references to help youimaging the grid. If you use an LCD screen to compose your images youcan make a rule of thirds grid out of a clear sheet of window clingmaterial. Another option is to draw the grid on your viewfinder (notlens) although this may not be easily removed and should be avoided ifat all possible. With a little practice you will be able toeffectively imagine the grid placement as you shoot.

Does it Matter Which Point I Us?

 

Which point or line you place your subject on does matter. While anyof the points/lines will add emphasis to your subject, some arestronger than others.

When an object is alone in an image, the strongest position is theleft hand line. An exception to this is for cultures where informationis read right to left, in those cases the right hand line will bes trongest.

When a subject is not alone there is a hierarchy of image strength.The subject in the foreground will naturally have more strength thanthe subject in the background. However, the rule of thirds placementcan emphasize or reduce this strength. The bottom right point is thestrongest for multiple subjects and the upper left point is theweakest. This theory is often used in movies to convey the emotionaldominance of one character over another. Placing a background subjecton the right and the foreground subject on the left will confuse theeye and lead to confusion in the viewer about which subject isdominant. This technique is very useful for emotionally-chargedimages.

Another general rule (although this rule can be broken in certaincircumstances) is that your subject should be placed on the oppositeline of the direction your subject is looking towards. For example, aportrait where the subject is looking to the left should place thesubject body on the right.

How Does the Rule of Thirds Work in Portraits?

While most good portraits appear to be simply a centered torso theyare following the rule of thirds. In the case of single portraits, thesubject's eyes are placed along the top rule of third line. Inmultiple subject portraits the subject faces are placed on the rule ofthirds lines. This is why a multiple-row posing generally works betterthan a one-row posing.