Rule Of The Thirds

[MiniChris]

Everytime I take pictures I always forget about the Rule of the Thirds until someone saw this picture from my camera and said "rule of the thirds". Does this picture applies to it? And can you give me a simple explanation about the rule of the thirds? Thank you.

I am hoping you will be able to look at my edit and understand why it is so important not to "just keep snapping." Whoever made the comment was referencing the rule of thirds because you did not compose or expose in such a manner as to present a single subject, but rather a scene comprised of a nice sky and some hillsides, some boats and fishermen in the water, a lagoon, and two boats shoved up against the left side of the frame.The lighting was right for every component in the scene but the most important one: the two boats.

One of my pet peeves in looking at a photo is to find there isn't any room for the primary subject to "look out" of the frame comfortably. In your shot, the bow of the fore boat is jammed right up to the frame, essentially strangling the shot. All the area behind the boats is pretty much superfluous in that it doesn't do anything to move the eye toward the boats.

You also have a bright area about midway across the face of the hills which pulls the eye away from the boats, and another bright shoreline/dock area which also pulls the eye away..

I added some space in front of the boats (expanded the canvas size, then cropped accordingly), using the clone tool to rebuild what I needed to fill the scene. Some gradient fills, and levels adjustment helped me to get the light on the boats and off the background.

Using the "Rule of Thirds as described by some of the others on here, look at the edit and see how by filling the frame, you are essentially creating this rule rather than trying to make the rule fit. This edit could even stand some more cropping off the top.

[Colin Southern]

Heck, I just crop the darn things until they look good!

[jupiterlush]

The "Rule of Thirds," though important is only one component of good composition. I try to teach my students to look through the shot: see what's in front, behind and around the main subject. Look for debris, reflections, trees coming out of heads and the like. Next, I tell them to fill the frame with the subject. Cropping is such a pain. Lastly, I tell them to compose, then shut their eyes for a brief second (when time and subject permits) and recompose a second time...funny how different the trees seem when the forest is removed. Foreground, middle ground, background are so important as is allowing a way for the eye to enter the scene, and a way for the eye to leave a scene. Those three components will almost force the Rule of Thirds without having to consciously think that way.

Photography is like any other art form. You must work at it every single time you pick up a camera, and you must study the works of others to see what you're missing in your own work, and you must pay attention to the most important of all elements in art and photography: Light; it's always about the light.

Very well said Chris, I'm learning a lot here. Thank you!

[jupiterlush]

I am hoping you will be able to look at my edit and understand why it is so important not to "just keep snapping." Whoever made the comment was referencing the rule of thirds because you did not compose or expose in such a manner as to present a single subject, but rather a scene comprised of a nice sky and some hillsides, some boats and fishermen in the water, a lagoon, and two boats shoved up against the left side of the frame.The lighting was right for every component in the scene but the most important one: the two boats.

One of my pet peeves in looking at a photo is to find there isn't any room for the primary subject to "look out" of the frame comfortably. In your shot, the bow of the fore boat is jammed right up to the frame, essentially strangling the shot. All the area behind the boats is pretty much superfluous in that it doesn't do anything to move the eye toward the boats.

You also have a bright area about midway across the face of the hills which pulls the eye away from the boats, and another bright shoreline/dock area which also pulls the eye away..

I added some space in front of the boats (expanded the canvas size, then cropped accordingly), using the clone tool to rebuild what I needed to fill the scene. Some gradient fills, and levels adjustment helped me to get the light on the boats and off the background.

Using the "Rule of Thrids as described by some of the others on here, look at the edit and see how by filling the frame, you are essentially creating this rule rather than trying to make the rule fit. This edit could even stand some more cropping off the top.

It's more different! And I like it and now I got my eyes focused on the two boats!

[jupiterlush]

Heck, I just crop the darn things until they look good!

Apparently that's the easiest thing to do. LOL! Thank you Sir Have a guess

[Colin Southern]

Apparently that's the easiest thing to do. LOL! Thank you Sir Have a guess

! to that!