The Rule of Thirds
I am going to use the help of my trusty assistants today, Robert and Peacock, to illustrate the importance of the rule of thirds. As with all rules, there are exceptions, but for the most part, a picture is more affective if it is positioned in a more artistic way...that is to say, NOT right smack dab in the middle of the picture.
This is Robert. Hello, cutie pie.
And here are two pictures of him.
Both close up. Both sharply in focus. Both show off his amazing skin and sweet baby expressions.
Which of these pictures do you prefer? I bet I can GUESS! ;-)
I'm guessing you prefer the bottom photo and here is why. It effectively uses the rule of thirds!
The top one, although cute, lacks pizazz. It looks more like a mugshot than a baby picture. ( I can say that about my own picture, I won't hurt my own feelings.) The latter is definitely more artistic and more interesting.
What about Senor Peacock?
Which do you prefer? Both are nice, crisp shots of him in all his vain glory. Both highlight his vivd, gorgeous colors. Both accentuate his gorgeous eyes. wink, wink.
I don't know about you, but my eyes are drawn to the top one. It makes a more lasting impression. And lookie there~ his body is slightly off centered!!!
SO~HOW do you do the rule of thirds? There is the simple way and the hard way.
Simple way: don't exactly center your subject in the frame.
"Hard" way: make a mental grid over your subject and position said subject over one of the outer lines, making sure not to have the center of the subject in the center square. Take my pretty, plucked from the road peony for example....I added grid lines to show you how the peony is not centered in the photo. There are pieces of it in the center square but it is mostly in the right side thirds.
Psssst.. One more thing. The photo doesn't have to be horizontal either. It works with vertical photographs too!
So...let's see some off center pictures this week! Any players???
3 comments:
What a CUTIE! And I love the rule of thirds... my sister taught me that when she was in photography classes, and I was amazed at what a huge difference it makes! I still have to make a concentrated effort not to center my subjects though! Old habits die hard!
Oh, this makes so much sense! I now understand the difference between Chris' pictures and mine. He's are almost slightly off-center while I gravitate towards center shots. It was also a problem when I had to design asymetrical gardens for school. It about killed me!! I'll definitely work harder on this. Since I'm painting the kitchen this week maybe I'll take some photos as well.
By the way, I've learned so much from your photo Fridays! I think I am going to cut and paste them into a file to print off!
WHOA! I go camping and you post a whole slew of good posts!! :) I will have a bunch of fun reading for after the sweeties are in bed! YEA! :)
I LOVE LOVE this technique! I am not perfect at it, for sure, but do try to use it! Count me in practicing this!!! :)
PS-I see you answered some of my gazillion questions *blush* Thanks!!! :)
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