Using the Rule of Thirds

One rule of thumb for taking good photos is the rule of thirds:

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows.

- See more at: http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds#sthash.ZqhNtutA.dpuf

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows.

- See more at: http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds#sthash.ZqhNtutA.dpuf

First of all, imagine that your picture space is divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically, like a tic tac toe grid.

The photography rule of thirds tells us to align our subject with one of the points where those lines cross. That means our subject is one third of the way “into” the picture space – from either the top or bottom, and from either the left or right. And that means it’s not in the middle. Of course rules are made to be broken--so remember your photos are YOURS to make.

Here are some of my photos using the rule of thirds.