Photography Tips – Rule of Thirds
Rule of thirds, composition, framing – one of the first skills you should learn before taking photos. It can help you tell the story, or emphasise a feeling.
Usually, when gridlines are enabled on a camera or phone it looks like this:
But for the purpose of this article, I will move them slightly in order to show you how I frame my photos with the rule of thirds in mind.
Here are 4 examples.
Photo 1
In this photo, the subject is the leopard sitting next to a termite nest. The leopard is the main focus, secondly is the termite nest. Consider the termite nest as a side story.
As you can see I created a little bit of breathing room on the right of the leopard, which is also the direction it’s looking. Why did I do this?
Well, consider the photo below if I didn’t.
It might still be an okay shot, but it’s just not the same. At least not for me anyway. It feels a little bit too cramped. I want there to be a feeling of freedom. That the leopard is in its territory where it is free to roam, and not just a cat trapped in a cage.
Here are two textbook uses of the rule of thirds.
Photo 2
The bottom line of the gridline is on the horizon and my subject is smack in the middle of the photo.
Photo 3
Here the subject, which is a flower, is also right in the middle. I made use of a vignette* to darken the image around the corners in order to highlight the flower even more.
*Vignette - Usually a dark oval or circular shadow that creeps from the borders to the centre of the photo.
Photo 4
When I took this photo I made sure the mountain was in the bottom half of the frame with the sky filling the top half, which once again also creates breathing room for the photo. I want you to get a feeling of the fresh open air.
Maybe you’ve noticed the clouds are also serving as leading lines that guide your eyes towards the mountain.
These “rules” are merely guidelines and not the “Code of the Photography Brethern”. This is what works for me as a photographer. Play around with them. See what works for you. Develop your own eye for detail and see what you can come up with.
If you found this helpful, here are 5 photography tips for beginners.
Learn about developing your eye for detail.
Thinking about which camera you should buy to begin photography?
Confused by some photography terminology? Here’s a list of photography jargon.
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Those are valuable tips, thanks! 👌
My pleasure! 😀
Nice
That is so useful. I like how you have a story – the leopard has space to the right….🙂
I’m so glad you find it useful! 🙂
Wonderful and useful tips 👍
I’m so glad to hear that!
Good tips nicely illustrated.
I’m glad I could help Susan 😀
This is so helpful. I am going to practice these tips!
I’m so glad you find them helpful! Good luck and have fun! 🙂
You are doing a very valuable work!
I’m so glad to hear that!
Brilliant and very good advise, rules are always very important to know, even if later one chooses to break them, or to adapt them to one’s artistic needs. Cheers and all the best.
Always helpful to be reminded of the importance of framing.
Great tips, brilliant, love the breathing space to appreciate the atmosphere and scenery. 🙏🏻♥️
I’m glad you found them helpful 🙂
Excellent tips. As a total amateur, even novice, with the camera, I have never used the gridlines. But I see the value in that, now. Thank you for the tips!
It’s my pleasure! I’m glad you found them useful! 🙂
Nice
As soon as I used my iPad I tried to put into practice the Thirds Rule.
Thank you in particular about the clouds being used as leading lines.
Adelaide
I’m glad I could help Adelaide! 🙂
Thanks for sharing another tip. With my amateur photography of nature’s landscape, it helps to set up the shot a bit before firing away. Your post reminds me to be more patient when setting up a photo opportunity.
I’m so glad I could help 😀
👏👏👏
Thank you, very useful tips!
Such a pleasure, Joe!
I need to be more mindful of this!