} RULE OF THIRDS
Here’s a project for everyone, whether you’ve got a camera phone, point and shoot or DSLR. It’s a note on composition, and I hope everyone gives it a try this week!
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Often times we pick up the camera and then move it to ensure our subject is front and center. But now we’re going to start thinking about the rule of thirds, art’s most basic composition guideline.
Think about it: most often, we catch ourselves gazing adoringly at our children from the corner of our eye. This is kinda-sorta going down that path, and is fun to explore as it adds an arty, unique edge to what could otherwise be a regular ol’ photo.
The rule of thirds hereby decrees that an image be broken up into nine equal segments, and the subject should cross paths with one of those points — rather than be right in the middle of the image — to create a dynamic focal point for the viewer’s eye.
Here are some examples, first with Isla’s cousin Emma, and the next two of her a long, long time ago.
Obviously, the rules aren’t hard and fast, and your photos won’t have lines running through them. Take the pictures you’d normally go to take, but play around with your composition, shifting your camera just ever so slightly. Even just having it so that the weight of a subject avoids being straight smack in the middle center will help you to experiment with thinking twice before pressing the shutter when composing a quick shot.
Some more random examples I pulled from my archive o’ Isla n’ Emma…
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