‘How do I take a better picture?’ It’s a question that almost everyone asks at one point or another, whether they are a pro snapping shots of a celebrity with a giant SLR (single lens reflex) camera or an average Joe with a point and shoot trying to snag a nice sunrise picture on his honeymoon in Hawaii. This series of blog posts will help to answer that question one puzzle piece at a time until (hopefully) your shots come out looking as good as you want them too. Today’s post will be on something called the Rule of Thirds.
What is The Rule of Thirds? Simply put, it means dividing the picture into three pieces, vertically or horizontally, and lining up the scene to fit within those guidelines.
Sounds simple, right? It is. The Rule of Thirds is not a hard rule and you can play around with the proportions a bit but the key is to keep 3 sections. That means if you are taking a picture of a landscape, such as the one above, the general rule is to have 1/3 water, 1/3 sky, and 1/3 clouds.
If you are think you will always have to visualize that grid on your own, don’t worry, most cameras (I should think all) have some way to display it on the LCD over any picture you are taking. It might take a few minutes to find the option in your cameras setup menu, but it is there.
The next part of the Rule of Thirds is what I would call the main point of interest. You have the scene you want in your sights and lined up neatly in thirds but something is still missing. That might be because what you want the people looking at your photo to focus on isn’t in the right place.
Not in the right place you ask? Yes, not in the right place.
The eye is a very finicky organ. It likes certain proportions and interesting things to be in certain places. Don’t ask me why because it would take a series of high level lectures by leading psychologists, mathematicians, and philosophers. I don’t think you want to invest that much time when you just have to know ‘how’ and not ‘why’ to get awesome pictures.
So, on to those main points of interest I mentioned a moment ago.
What they are is the intersection of the horizontal and vertical lines that make up the grid for the Rule of Thirds. There are four of them and the key is to get what you want everyone to be intently staring at to be near, not exactly on, one of those points.
In the case of this picture what I want the view to focus on is the tree, so I line everything up using the Rule of Thirds making sure to keep the most interesting parts of the tree just off that main point of interest.
A variation on rather extension of the main points of interest would be the lines of interest. It is the same idea as the main points of interest but instead you keep what you want the viewer to focus on just off one of the Rule of Thirds grid line.
In the case of the above photos I wanted the view to notice the archer’s eyes first and move on to the rest of the photo from there so I place them just off one of the lines of interest.
The Rule of Thirds, as I mentioned before, is not a hard rule. Rather, it is a guideline to help keep in mind that the eye finds certain proportions and placement attractive. Using the Rule of Thirds is not a guarantee for a great picture but it will be a useful thing to keep in mind when you’re snapping off your next shot.
Got a question? Feel free to ask!
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