Using Rule of Thirds to Make the Photos More Interesting

Using Rule of Thirds to can make a photo more interesting – be it Landscape, Portrait or Still Life. Learn how to make beautiful photo using fundamental rule. Previously we discussed few important articles; one of them is Rule of Thirds. The major part which was out of scope of that article is using Rule of Thirds which will be discussed in this article with other important tips.

Using Rule of Thirds : Understanding the Real Value

Sometimes the subject is photographed unequivocally to arouse interest. But we know that there are many elements that make a photo beautiful and interesting, artistic etcetera.

In photography, there are many rules; those if applied, allow to arouse in the viewer of a photo particular reactions. One of the basic rules of composition in photography, one of the most cited, is the rule of thirds. It is a very simple rule, using Rule of Thirds is actually easy – which can make it immediately more interesting, make more dynamic and add more harmonics to our shots. To apply the rule of thirds, you should ideally divide the frame into nine boxes by marking two vertical and horizontal lines equidistant from each other and from the edges of the image. At this point, the main points of interest of the picture must be positioned along the lines or, better still, at their intersections. This stems from the fact that, instinctively, the human eye focuses on the points identified by its intersections of the rows. All these basically were discussed in the previously linked article on Rule of Thirds.

Using Rule of Thirds to Make the Photos More Interesting

Depending on the subject that we are photographing, the rule of thirds is applied in a different way. Consider some examples.

Landscapes

When photographing a landscape, we can align the horizon to one of the two horizontal lines. In this way we get a picture composed of two-thirds of the sky and a third of the ground or a picture which is composed of a third of the sky and to two thirds of the ground. We are so careful to give greater importance to that in between the two things more interesting : for example, we do not want a monochrome sky without clouds to take two-thirds of our landscape. If we include in our photo the sun, then we will try to place it in correspondence with one of the intersection points.

The same applies to the moon in the night pictures or objects in a landscape on which we focus, like a solitary tree.

Portraits

Generally, when we shoot a portrait, we make sure that the subject’s eyes are at one of the intersection points. This applies not only when the subject is human, but also when we are able to capture, for example, an insect or some other animal. If the portrait is full length, clicking it may be worthwhile keeping the camera aligned horizontally and placing the whole subject along one of the vertical lines, still we are trying to keep your eyes up to the upper horizontal line.

Still Life

In this category, we include simplicity in any photo including the inanimate objects. We simply try to place thr objects along the lines or at the intersections. Tall objects can draw too much strength from being placed along the vertical lines. A group of objects distributed horizontally hit more the observer if it is aligned with a horizontal line.

Using Rule of Thirds : Conclusion

Photography is not exactly a science, it is an art. Following the rule of thirds will come handy in many occasions disobeying can make a photograph beautiful. For example, a head positioned exactly in the center almost dazzles the observer, while if it had been placed off-center, probably would have lost the importance. Here, the rule of thirds grossly disobeyed but on closer observation still relevant – the eyes are usually at the intersecting points.

The tips we have listed above are a small fraction of applications that can have with the rule of thirds in any kind of photography. We tried to select those most frequently and rapidly usable points. As always, please share your thoughts on Google Plus or in the comments section below.