Harmonizing Proportion - The Rule of Thirds

April 17, 2012

This photo of Stella in Granny’s back yard is a good example of one of the basic tenets of photography: the rule of thirds. The goal is to align the elements of a scene with an imaginary grid that breaks the image into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, as opposed to placing a single subject in the center of the photo. Supposedly, our eyes are naturally drawn to these lines and the intersections of these lines when viewing images, and it makes them more interesting. Most modern cameras have a setting that puts this grid in the viewing screen to help.

Stella’s photo has two strong vertical elements: her body and the corner of the house. As you can see, her body is aligned with the left vertical line, and the corner of the house is aligned with the right vertical line. In addition, her face is near the intersection of two of the lines. Imagine if I had snapped the photo with her face in the middle of the frame. The image probably wouldn’t have been as captivating.

You can also use the rule of thirds when decorating a house. Instead of placing an object directly in the middle of a shelf, put it one third of the way from the end. Don’t hang pictures in the middle of walls, use the rule of thirds.

Of course, rules are meant to be broken, and there are many dramatic photos that defy the rule of thirds. However, it helps to learn the rule to understand when it should be broken.