Composition: The Rule of Thirds

Ansel Adams said, "There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs." Rules for photographic composition are useful, but they do not ensure that you will produce a good photograph. The trick is to know both how to use the rules and when to break them in order to help you achieve that elusive good photograph.

A good photograph has a clear subject, and uses various techniques to emphasize the subject and minimize distractions.

The most common photographic composition places the subject squarely in the center. In general, this is not very interesting. Exceptions exist, however, such as when the subject fills most of the frame of the image. But you should master other composition techniques as well.

One common and useful rule is called the Rule of Thirds. The drawing below represents your image area in the common 3:2 aspect ratio. Within the large rectangle, there are lines dividing the length and width each into 3 parts. These lines intersect at 4 points, marked below with circles. Using the Rule of Thirds, you would center your subject at one of these 4 circles.

The Rule of Thirds was invented by the master painters of the Renaissance. Its purpose is to allow space in the painting to provide some context to the subject, to help tell a story. The eye tends to wander to these four points more readily than to the center of the image.

In the example photograph below, I used the Rule of Thirds to position the flower, emphasizing the subject. I also used a shallow depth of field to throw the background and extreme foreground out of focus in order to minimize distractions.

Copyright 2013 © Philip N. Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.

Philip Wheeler Photography

Flower