Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds From A Wikipedia Point of View:

Rule of Thirds - The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts such as painting, photography and design.

History:

If you’re a new photographer, you will hear about this rule time, and time again… but there is a reason for it – It’s extremely important! Like the title says, the rule of thirds is your number one recipe to an awesome photo! The rule of thirds is often referred to as the rule of thirds grid,  rule of the thirds, golden ration, or as the rule of thirds photography. It has been floating around our world since roughly the 1800’s when painting was a very popular form of art.

Rule of Thirds Photography

Now… I have a book full of recipe’s but I often add my own twist while cooking. I do the same with the rule of thirds. This rule is a general standard to create a well balanced shot, however it is OK to break it – it often depends on your subject. Maybe in a certain circumstance your photo will have more power with a centred shot.

The basics of the rule of thirds:

1. 9 equal boxes

2. 4 intersecting points

3. 2 vertical lines

4. 2 horizontal lines

By placing interesting pieces of your image at these points, you can make your image well balanced and help let viewers naturally move through your image.

Rule Of Thirds used in outdoor shot

It’s common to have standing people matching one of the vertical lines, or landscapes follow the horizontal lines.

Update: I have had many comments saying that rules are meant to be broken, and bla bla bla, but the fact of the matter is – the rule of thirds will ultimately improve the composition of your images. It is a great building block to improve your photography skills! The brain naturally moves towards features in the photo that have been aligned along the rule of thirds, making your photo already one step better than the plain image without this simple rule! Now I previously said rules are meant to be broken, but I’m going to clear this up now so that I’m not contradicting myself. The rule of thirds is just a simple, standard rule that will generally improve your photography – but in certain type of shots (such as product shots) you may feel the need to break the rule to restore balance to the photo.

Update 2: Our website revolves around the “Rule of Thirds”, so unsurprisingly we try to dig up every single little reference on it! Today’s update is Adobe Photoshop CS5 now features a visible rule of thirds grid while using the crop tool, similar to Adobe Lightroom.

So next time you are out shooting, think about these lines and intersecting points as you are rolling your finger over that shutter button! Try finding new ways to incorporate your subject with the rule of thirds in your photography.

Delving Deeper:

Feel like delving deeper into the rule of thirds? Why don’t you visit some of these photography website for more details!

• Silverlight - Quick reference to keeping photo’s balanced using the rule of thirds.
• BetterPhoto – Some quick rule of thirds photo examples.
• Jake Garn – Very interesting article on “the lazy rule of thirds”.
• Photoinf – More image examples.
• Cambridge in Color - Always very details. Great site for information.

Feel free to comment or come join our forum!

Found this article helpful? Check out: Field of Depth, Interactive Aperture, 22 Free Lightroom Preset Sources!