Rule of Thirds

INTRODUCTION

The rule of thirds is something that's frequently used in photography. It's a good rule for quick compositions and to make a photo interesting to a viewer's eyes. To use this rule, you can either mentally picture a 3x3 grid on your subject or look through your viewfinder with the "grid display" feature on. If you have a point and shoot the "grid display" feature should also be available to display on the LCD.

INTERSECTING LINES

Now that the grid is on either mentally or physically, the idea is to line up your shot so that your subjects fall on the intersecting lines or the four intersections. Take this shot of Vince for example. I've kept the top right intersecting lines on Vince's eyes so that your eyes are drawn to him as the most interesting subject in my composure. I've kept the other intersection on my coworker in the background to give the picture some depth. Placing the subject of your photo at any one of the 4 intersection points draws the viewer's attention exactly as you want it. That's pretty much it to the intersecting lines.

FILLING THE THIRDS

Another way to use the rule of thirds is to place your subject matter in one third of the picture. Pick any third of the picture and place all of your subject matter in there. Depending whether you place your subject matter in the top or bottom thirds, changes how much you see above or below the horizon. This can be a cool effect to mess around with.

GENERAL "RULES OF THUMB"

Now, I tend to eyeball my thirds lines when taking a quick shot. Here are some good general rules of thumb that I setup with every shot.

1. I generally place people off the center of the shot and on one of the vertical lines.
   
2. For landscapes, I try to fill a third of my picture. If I'm showing off the sky then the lower third will be my horizon and below. If I'm showing off what's on the ground then all my sky is the top third.
3. When taking a closeup shot of someone, I imagine both of their eyes on the top two intersections, and the mouth in the bottom third

Keeping the rule of thirds in mind has become second nature to me. Every now and then I try to break it because you can get some dramatic shots that way too. Enjoy.