Composition following or breaking the rules

Composition “Rule of Thirds".

The idea is to mentally separate the image in the view finder into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. This gives you  a total of nine rectangles and 4 main element points.

Using the horizontal lines can improve the placement of the horizon and prevent the image being cut in half.  Deciding which of the tow lines to use depends on the subject. If the sky were the main impact point you would use the lower of the two lines, giving more emphasis to the sky.  On the other hand if the sky is bland and the scene is awash with colors or shapes; put the horizon on the upper line giving more emphasis to the foreground detail.       

f5.6, 1/20 sec, ISO 500, 70mm

 f5.6, 1/60sec, ISO 200, 24mm

 Using the vertical lines; one main point to using them is to avoid placing the subject dead centre, it can be more beneficial visually to place the subject off center on one of the two vertical lines.

Using the intersecting points, any one of these intersections is a good place to position important elements of your photograph. Placing strong elements on one of these four points give a more dynamic balance and helps to create impact.  The horse head is directly on one intersection

point and the frame is well divided in third, same 

for the little angel the frame is well divided and

his and the cat head are close to the intersection 

point, both images are well balance.

 

f10, 1/125sec, ISO 200, 105mm

 f22, 1/20, ISO 100, 28mm, HDR 5 shots combined

I learned that way, and I am used to it. I am always doing it first when doing a composition, it's a second nature, but great or not all rules should be broken to add impact, and tension, for me the best way to improve composition is too practice the rule of third till you get very good at it, and after go out and brake the rule, I put down some example of both, following the rule the horses and angel top images, and broking it, the boats and farm land images, the boats are place very high on the frame, on an angle, anchored by the reflection lines, the lines and angle make this image, same for the farm land image, the angle of the fence the sun of the top left corner the vanishing point close to the edge of the frame all elements of strong impact,not exactly following the rule of third. but still following design rules, I will write a post on design next week.