Beginner rule of thirds

Look for the golden ratio.
 
It's not actually a rule BTW .. More a guide :)
 
what is the rule of thirds in photography?


The rule of thirds is a "rule of thumb" or guideline which applies to the process of composing visual images such as designs, films, paintings, and photographs.[1] The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.[2] Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject.

The photograph demonstrates the application of the rule of thirds. The horizon in the photograph sits at the horizontal line dividing the lower third of the photo from the upper two-thirds. The tree sits at the intersection of two lines, sometimes called a power point[3] or a crash point.[4] Points of interest in the photo do not have to actually touch one of these lines to take advantage of the rule of thirds. For example, the brightest part of the sky near the horizon where the sun recently set does not fall directly on one of the lines, but does fall near the intersection of two of the lines, close enough to take advantage of the rule.



Easy enough

Les :)
 
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Hi @Nelile Mnisi - maybe I can offer you and all your friends who have signed up to this forum a little bit of advice...

if you sign up, and your first post is a single sentance question asking "what is...." - you're going to get a few of the members pushing back or saying "just do your own homework/google it".

However, if you go into the beginners forum, introduce yourself, give a quick "biography" or details of what you do, what you like shooting, what you feel you'd like to learn from being here, and how you think you could maybe help others on here" then you'll get a far more welcoming response.

If you then proceed to share some of your photo's in one of the photo sharing sections that'd be brilliant. Same thing if you apply your knowledge of photography to giving critique and feedback on other peoples images,

What I'm saying here, is that this is a community, not just a reference library staffed by people for your assitance. Join, participate, give something to the community, and it'll be reciprocated many, many times over.

Don't be offended if people post links to various websites in answer to a question, very often these posted links ARE the best resource that the person knows to explain it - it's a "curated" link if you will. I've posted many links to your college compatriots questions already - because, frankly, the best info I know was in them, and not only was I not going to plagiarise the other site, I wasn't about to re-type 5000+ words and source multiple photos and diagrams in illustration.

You may notice a marker against my name stating that I'm a Staff Member here. As such, what i've stated above would probably be a good thing to take on board, and to pass onto your friends who may also be posting on here - and perhaps also feed back to the lecturer who pointed you at this forum in the first place...

Enjoy your time within our community :)
 
as always, it's important to remember that photography is an artistic media, and often especially with compositional tools such as this, its worth referring back to the art world...

https://www.creativebloq.com/art/how-use-rule-thirds-art-21619159 is a good introduction, and shows that "nothing is new" about this compositional tool - it really is one of the simplest and most basic guidelines out there - possibly best considered for a beginner to the process as a way to get the composition of your shot 90% there in the framing - allowing fine tuning to be performed by eye rather than by rule at the editing stage...

It's telling however that the rule of thirds guides in for example Lightroom, are just one of a series of compositional tools, all of which can be just as valid (or indeed more so)
 
I believe the rule of thirds is one of the compositions where an image is dived evenly into thirds, both horizontally and vertically and the subject of the image along the intersection of those lines

Not really a RULE though :)
 
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