There are many different ways where the rules of composition can drastically change the look and feel of a photograph. These simple rules need to be learnt if you want to improve your photography and then you begin to break them! One of the simplest ways of improving your photography is called the ‘Rule of Thirds’ (RoT)
The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows:
Looking through your camera viewfinder imagine the frame split up into imaginary thirds.
With this grid in mind the ‘rule of thirds’ now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image.
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
The above subject in this photograph looks as if she is running out of space within the frame.
By simply re-framing the image we give more space to the subject which enhances the whole composition.
You can learn even more about ways to improve your photos composition on our digital photography workshops or by watching our composition video tutorial here
