Thursday, April 8, 2010

Photography Assignment #7 ~ The Rule of Thirds

This week's theme for my 365 project is the Rule of Thirds, so I thought this week would be perfect for a new photography assignment.

The Rule of Thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in visual arts of painting, photography and design. The Rule of Thirds works like this: Imaginary lines are drawn dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. You place important elements of your composition where these lines intersect. Some proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest than simply placing the subject at the center.

An example from Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Commons:
The photograph to the right demonstrates the application of the rule of thirds. The horizon sits at the horizontal line dividing the lower third of the photo from the upper two-thirds. The tree sits at the intersection of two lines, sometimes called a power point. Points of interest in the photo don't have to actually touch one of these lines to take advantage of the rule of thirds. For example, the brightest part of the sky near the horizon where the sun recently set does not fall directly on one of the lines, but does fall near the intersection of two of the lines, close enough to take advantage of the rule.
With that in mind, here are two photos that I took this week using the Rule of Thirds. It was pretty easy to line up the shots because the points in my viewfinder are already set up to help me divide my image into thirds. Hopefully people who might be trying this photo assignment have as easy a time! Otherwise, cropping works if you want to try and line photos up exactly the way you want.

White Flowers ~ 94/365

Pineapple ~ 97/365

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the reminder. All too often I get a bit lazy and rely on cropping afterward. Excellent colors in the pineapple shot.

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  2. Thanks :) It turned out better than I had even imagined it would when the shot was inspired! Mmmm... pineapple!

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