Saturday 22 April 2017

Geek Latte | Rule of Thirds in Photography

Coconut Pudding at Holts Cafe
From all the composition rules in photography, Rule of Thirds is the most well known and most often used by photographers. In fact, many of us use it without even realizing as it creates a more visually appealing image.

The rule of thirds stems from the image being divided into thirds horizontally and vertically. The four intersecting points are known as the power points because our eyes naturally gravitate there hence why many photographers choose to put their subjects at one of the four points.

Nike Free Runs - the bottom of the sole hits the horizontal line. 
It is also common practice to put the horizon at either the top or bottom line or to align long objects with one of the two vertical lines. In my images, you will see me favouring the bottom horizontal line and the right vertical line. A lot of my images will have the subject off to the right because the english language in North America is read left to right, so I want the viewer to end on the subject when looking at one of my pictures.

Garden Party Floral Arrangement - The vase is aligned right
I really love how my two DSLR viewfinder's shows the grid lines for the rule of thirds so it really helps me not only create stronger images, but I even use it to help me keep my pictures straight! I would assume other DSLR brands also have the grid lines and if you primarily use your cell phone, majority of cell phone cameras give you the option to make the grid visible. So check your settings, because it really just takes the guesswork out of things!

Also, you can always crop your images in post production to align the horizon or subject to fit the rule of thirds. If I am editing a portrait, I always crop it to have person's face at one of the four pour points. However, this is only just one compositional aspect in photography! A perfectly centred subject can be just as striking!

If there is anything in specific you would like me to discuss in future posts, definitely leave me a comment below!

BYES

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