The “Rule of Thirds” composition in photography is a great way to start taking photos that are balanced and interesting. It can be used in all types of photography genres such as portrait and landscape.
What is it?
The Rule of Thirds composition is to imagine breaking down your image into thirds horizontally and vertically. Your grid should have nine parts as shown below. This can also be done in the camera itself by going into settings and enabling the grid so that you can visually see it in the viewfinder.
Quick video tutorial on how to view grid on a DSLR camera:
Once you have your grid, the goal is to place the important elements in the photograph along the lines on the grid so that the photo is more balanced. When the object in the photo is off centred, it is more pleasing to the eye and it looks more natural. When using this composition, try thinking of what elements of the photo are the most important and try to position those elements along the lines of the grid.
You can also use editing tools to create the Rule of Thirds composition in a photograph. In the example below, the image on the right is the original image and the image on the left incorporates the rule of thirds. I cropped the image on the left to make the tree appear off centred. The image on the left looks more natural and less “staged” than the original image which creates balance.
