Bi-weekly Photo Focus: Rule of Thirds

[ellebelle]

So, it's really been three weeks since I did the last one of these on aperture, but things have been busy and I didn't get very much participation. In the hopes that maybe this week more people will join in, I decided to look at the Rule of Thirds.

When composing a photograph, you always want to remember the rule of thirds. If you were to imagine a 3 x 3 grid of squares on top of your photograph, all of the important elements of a shot should be occur along those lines, and not in the center of the frame. In general, this adds more tension to photographs.

This is a photo I took in December of Randy's tank. The first one is cropped so that the clownfish is in the center of the frame. The second one is composed as I originally took it.

You can see in this photo that I have the focal area in the bottom left hand corner and the face of the clownfish would be at the intersection of my grid.

Here are a couple of other reef related examples:

Focal point is in the top left.

focal point in bottom right

The diagonal lines are moving the eye down to the bottom left again.

The rule holds true for things like horizons as well - it is always best to put the horizon line either at the top third or the bottom third, as opposed to in the dead center of your photograph.

Example:

horizon line in bottom third

horizon line in top third.

So my challenge to you is to take a photograph - any photograph - and compose it using the rule of thirds. And post here in this thread.

 

[DontXtripNfall]

Refreshing spring pic, third line workshop lesson.

How'd I do?

 

[House of Laughter]

Not very familiar with all the photog stuff, but how does this pic work?

House

 

[masterswimmer]

Once again Lissa, great information and very easy to understand. FYI, I didn't participate in the aperture (or this thirds) lesson because my camera is a point and shoot and a POS I'm hoping to jump on the Nikon D90 bandwagon. So I'm following along and absorbing as much as I can for future use.

Thanks again for your time and effort. I will one day shock the members here and post a decent pic......due to your help.

Russ

 

[CHEMCHEF]

Great lesson. It relly does seem to make a difference.

Thank you

 

[ellebelle]

Okay, I have stolen and slightly cropped the photographs that have been submitted thus far. Chemchef did best in the composition challenge of the three, but the clownfish gets a little lost in the photo so I cropped yours down too.

Here are my suggestions based on the rule of thirds:

JD's photograph - i cropped off the side

Jim's photo - I took a little off of the bottom

Chemchef - I left your original composition mostly intact, but cropped it down a little to better see the clownfish.

 

[DontXtripNfall]

Thanks, it does look much better that way!
I'll try to post another pic with the advice and see how I've improved.

 

[CHEMCHEF]

Thank you.
I looks much better, the way you cropped it.
I really appreciate the lessons. It's very kind of you to share your talent.

 

[LeslieS]

wow! I didn't even see the clown fish in the first one. really makes a difference!

 

[LeslieS]

View attachment 56883OK, here are my pics. I wore my glasses this time hoping that they would be more focused. Unfortunately, I forgot to apply the last lesson about f-stops.

Superfly is my favorite subject, and he can be a ham so you will probably see lots more pictures of him. I cropped it so that his eyes are on the top third line of the photo.

The pics of my tank are blurry. That is because I REALLY need to clean the glass, but I kind of like how it looks. It was supposed to be a picture of the cat, but the light was behind her and the tank colors dominate. I actually think that I like the uncropped picture better because it has more depth and seems gloomier. The bottom third line is somewhere between the bottom of the tank and the top of the planter.

 

[masterswimmer]

Leslie, for 1/3's I'd look at it more like this (but this is JMO):

 

[LeslieS]

OK, so the thirds rule is obviously subjective. I see what you mean Russ about keeping the cat's head above the lower horizon, but also more centered as the focus of the pic.

The second pic is how I was thinking of it.

Also, here is the tank pic gridded up. It would have been cool if the window frame had lined up with the grid. After seeing the pics, Jer cleaned the tank glass

 

[masterswimmer]

If your 2nd cat picture had a more interesting background, I'd agree with your eye. But 2/3's of the background is a plain, blank palette.

When I was growing up, we were taught in art class that there is no 'right or wrong' in art. Everyone sees art with their own eye. How can you tell someone their eye is wrong? You can't. So your pic is perfect, to you. And that's how it should be. I see the thirds a bit different though.

 

[ellebelle]

Leslie, I think the second cat picture fits the rule. Compositionally, I would have gotten a little more of his head in the frame just because it cuts off very abruptly as it is right now.

The last photo also fits the rule of thirds, but it lacks a focal point. The eye isn't sure to go to the tank, to the window, or to the cat. It's the same problem Chemchef's photo had - the eye was so distracted by the anemone that it missed the little clownfish. Maybe that will be Photo Focus #3.

 

[FocusReefing]

Leslie, I think the second cat picture fits the rule. Compositionally, I would have gotten a little more of his head in the frame just because it cuts off very abruptly as it is right now.

The last photo also fits the rule of thirds, but it lacks a focal point. The eye isn't sure to go to the tank, to the window, or to the cat. It's the same problem Chemchef's photo had - the eye was so distracted by the anemone that it missed the little clownfish. Maybe that will be Photo Focus #3.

I agree. But I also agree with Russ, about the blank wall. I feel the rule of thirds works best when there is additional points of interest to be seen in the background. For a simple portrait such as the face of a cat. I would fill as much of the frame as possible with the subjects face, in order to convey a more dramatic, or personal feel to the viewer. I also agree there is a lack of focal point with the second photo. Perhaps if the tank was the focal point in the background and the photo was taken more over the shoulder of the cat with the forground slightly blurred, it may better convey the cats point of view. Again all the while filling as much of the frame with the subjects as possible to eliminate distractions. Its amazing how much a little simple blurring can do for a photo by helping move the eye to the point of interest. ellbell I believe you covered blurring using aperature in the last post. That was good stuff.

 

[masterswimmer]

But I also agree with jim, about the blank wall.

Russ :tongue1:
not Jim :sad2:

 

[LeslieS]

 

[ellebelle]

Ha! Purrfect.

And PS: I am quite the fan of negative space, so I don't mind the blank wall.

 

[masterswimmer]

LOL, that's great :splitspin

 

[FocusReefing]

Russ :tongue1:
not Jim :sad2:

Wow, Im an A-hole! Russ I appologize! The sad thing is I knew that. Im knew, dont judge me. :givebeer: