For the uninitiated, the rule of thirds is simply placing your pictures in certain locations in your frame. To determine the location, break up your frame into a tic-tac-toe puzzle and place the subject photographed at any of the intersections


Simple rule, no? But like all rules, sometimes they are meant to be broken. The question is, when? Any tips? One I've heard is that when photographing common subjects (your mum, bicycle, pencil), it is better to adhere to the rule. But when photographing subjects which gives a large impact by itself, do those head-on, centered and fill up the frame (beautiful model, old wrinkled face, etc). Sorry but no sample pictures but hope it's understood. I kinda like this exception to the rule and have seen sample pictures.

Any other exceptions to the rule?

in my opinions,

rule of third is the guide for basic photographing.. u can hardly go wrong with this..but u will only have something that is good and expected..

but if u wan to create something extraordinary, stands out from the rest,
u need to squeeze your brain and be creative..

photography is an art,
when it comes to art,
it shouldn't be tied to rules and constraints..

unleash your imagination and creativity...

everyone's taste is different.
thus it is important to know who is your targeted audience if u do photography for living,

if photography is just a hobby for you,
compose the photo in the way u like the most..

lastly,
ppl's opinions should be kept as opinions..and only.

Hence a forum where all can share their opinions

the Rule of Third is to help in composition.

when to break it? when the Rule doesn't apply la. anyway I don't think there's any way you can tell a when to use or not to use it.

it really depends on the composition, even the height (angle) of where the shot takes makes a difference, even though it's at the same setting.

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Added on January 22, 2008, 5:13 am

source on siggy.

I just love the rule of thirds, for every shot.

I break the rule of third when I'm shooting clean reflection, where I want to show the symmetry.

Example:

but i think u've applied the rule when u placed the ferris wheel on the far left. but yea,symmetry is one example on when to break the rule

no use of Rules of Third here. Rule of 1/2 la. hehe.

I don't know which category will this fit in...

i broke the rule of third because i want to show the sphinx as well.



i broke the rule of third because i want to show the street mood.



i broke the rule of third because i believe it looks nicer just like this.



i broke the rule of third because i want the cuddly cute wombat to get all the attention it needs.

I broke the rule because i do not really have the grid on

Nice nice. Love the water and reflection shots! Great examples of when the rule doesn't apply at all!

LOL subtly you didn't realise that you still did follow the rules of third. Emphasis on the Eye on Malaysia which is on the left side of your composition. Emphasis on reflection puts both the reflection and the actual objects at the top 1/3 line or the bottom 3/3 line. Still also following rules of third

I can't remember the pro-photog who said this but his advice is "understand the rules first before you break it".

From my limited knowledge, RO3rd can be broken by these two basic rules:

1) To show water reflections which the water line will be placed in the middle of the pic.

2) To show symmetry which an object which has a symmetry i.e Paris Tower will be placed in the middle.

visualize an imaginary grid..

I broke the rule is because im a noob. =)

sometimes it's just hard to follow...

agreed.... rule of thirds is my passion

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the power of rule of thirds

^rofl, i guess this proves how much it affects you during your shoot without you noticing it

soulfly, if we're going to do it like you did then practically every picture will have something crossing the intersection.

if you look at my shot and calvin's shot, you'll see that we're not even emphasizing anything near the intersection.

those picture is just as it is highlighting the entire scene.

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Added on January 22, 2008, 4:51 pm

indeed it happens. sometimes unknowingly.

shots by goldfries and calvin_gsc has nothing to do with rules of thirds but more to do with leading lines , i think

yes clem.

i took spend like 15 minutes hanging around the area to take that shot. RO3rd wasn't even in my thought because the either is not to emphasize anything but rather to just give the feel of the place as seen through the lens.

yes, it so happens that the waterfall crosses the 2 intersections at the bottom. there's no way to avoid that isn't it? but that doesn't mean it's RO3rd in action.

rules are meant to be broken

photography should not have rules, rules of thirds,leading lines,etc are just guidelines in composition. it's popular because in most cases, it's better applying it than not but it also creates more cliched pictures. so always think how u wanna compose a shot, angles and so on

do you guys think this shot have RO3rd?

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Added on January 22, 2008, 5:42 pm

Yup. Rule of Thirds isn't exactly a RULE but rather just a guide. it's the most basic of composition i guess but certainly not the only way to compose.

No rules, just go forth and snap beautiful pictures!

I remember i read a article of the photography rules. There are prize winning pictures (portrait with the face exactly on the center) which does not follow the rule of third but it follow other rule which is simplicity with dark background which make the object (face) stand out.

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Added on January 22, 2008, 6:18 pm

hmm, not really breaking, especially 2, 3, & 4th, it's very meeting RO3rd. The first pic tend to follow although it's not exact.
Like Radical said, we follow it without noticing it

To be honest with anyone here, photography is best done without any rules, put it in your viewfinder, and if you think it'll look decent, just press that shutter release and you'll be fine.

BTW
never follow the rules because really noob!

nooo..... rule of thirds is a religion!

where the subject is in the centre focus point. How often can you find a compelling enough subject to put in deadsmack centre and the image is strongly in balance? that's the tough part. Alas, Pls stick with the rules...

Yeap. From what I read, rule of third is about placing an object at one of the four intersection points, not just at the 1/3 zone.

Example:

I agree. Very often I follow the rule not because it's a popular rule, it's just because my shot looks better following the rule.

in sports u don follow rule of third when u snap someone dashing from left to right.,...

Which is more important:-

a) Follow RO3rd and have a distracting background or

b) Have a clean background but against the RO3rd.

I've been in some situations where as it's almost impossible to get a clean background while following RO3rd and it's quite challenging. For me, I usually chose for former when the situation arises.

It depends on what sport. For instant a 100m sprint where the athlete run from left to right, usually you will leave more space in front of the athlete, so the athlete tends to be a the 1/3rd (on the left) of the frame.


Get a clean BG, then add space on the required side.

Before:


After:

yeah... it's always good to have space where the object / subject is looking towards.

although there are some 'creative' ppl who like to do otherwise....
" whatever works " is what i say.
try la...
post different pictures online here... some using RO3rds, or whatever u like....
take double pics... liek what kelvin did... i like the second one better.

so yes ,i like RO3rds better

in sports you might not have the time to compose.

however after the shot, you can always attempt to compose in RO3rd.

i snapped this with a mask on, damn hard to compose la.



however after applying RO3rd, the picture looks better.

If anybody noticed, Canon's 40D ad where a boy was pushing a boat in BW doesn't confirm to RO3rd. Still, it's a great picture.

goes to show that RO3rd is just a composition guide, not a requirement in getting nice pictures.

owh. noticed. the one at the back page of click! magazine january issue.

is dat picture style or PP?

LOL goldfries, I understand what you feel... shooting with the paintball mask. Me too. Hard to put your face properly behind those viewfinder.

Ethically they should used picture style. But, behind the curtains we don't know actually. There was a furore during the a700 launch that Sony used an old Cheetah pic taken from a different camera for it's a700 ads.