He said: “When you're chasing a big goal, you're supposed to feel good a third of the time, okay a third of the time, and crappy a third of the time...and if the ratio is roughly in that range, then you're doing fine.”
The Problems With the Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds is actually a pretty weak compositional guideline. It does more to stop you making bad mistakes than guide you to making strong compositions. There is a lot more to good composition than just placing the main parts of your image at arbitrary points on a grid.
The rule of thirds is a composition guideline that places your subject in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two thirds more open. While there are other forms of composition, the rule of thirds generally leads to compelling and well-composed shots.
RECAP: Why don't we use the rule of thirds? “The rule of thirds is unfortunately misleading because it prioritizes specific thirds placements rather than how the foreground and background interact with each other.”
Using the rule of thirds will generally (but not always) result in better compositions. This rule works for designing ads, creating PowerPoints, taking photographs, and more. The rule of thirds is really more of a suggestion or guiding principle rather than a hard rule that you should always follow.
The rule of thirds is the most well-known composition guideline. It helps draw the viewer's eye into the image and places more emphasis on the subject. Ideally, the empty space that's left should be in the direction the subject is looking or heading into.
Placing your subject or horizon in the centre of the image is the most obvious alternative to the Rule of Thirds, and works well for many subjects. A prominent horizontal line in the dead-centre of an image perfectly bisects it and gives equal weight to the two halves of the image.
Break the Rule of Thirds
Ignoring the rule could produce a randomly composed image, whereas consciously breaking it usually results in a more considered composition. It's usually best to break the rule dramatically so it doesn't just look like an accident or sloppy composition.
The Rule of Thirds places your subject on the left-third or right-third of the frame, creating a pleasing composition. Each intersection point is a potential point of interest; align your main subject along with other elements of the frame along these points to create a balanced, or visually interesting, image.
The rule of thirds explains that if you place the main subject of your image in the top, bottom, left, or right blocks of the grid, you'll capture a perfect picture every time. The rule gets even simpler than that. To capture a well-balanced photo, all you have to do is avoid keeping the main subject in the center box.
The Rule of Three is based on how our brains function - how we recognize and create patterns on a daily basis. The Rule of Three revolves around the observation that ideas given in threes are especially interesting and memorable to an audience.
Rule of Thirds Example: Landscapes
If the focus of your image is on land (i.e. mountains, buildings), the horizon should fall near the upper third and if the focus is the sky (i.e. sunsets, sunrises), the horizon should fall near the lower third.
As with all rules (at least in photography), the rule of thirds doesn't apply in every situation, and sometimes breaking it can result in a much more eye-catching, interesting photo. Experiment and test out different compositions even if they go against any "rules" you've learned.
The "rule of thirds" is not absolute, and there are instances in which centering the subject produces a pleasingly symmetrical image, or having the subject closer to the edge creates dramatic tension.
The Golden Mean is a mathematical spiral that places your focal point on a curved line in order to draw the viewer into the photo. The rule of thirds is a grid where the focal points and most interesting places are on the lines that is dividing the frame into thirds.
The rule of thirds is a guideline for both artists and photographers. It says that if you divide your composition into thirds, either vertically or horizontally, and then place focal areas of your scene at the meeting points of them, you will get a more pleasing arrangement and layout for your compositions.
What is the Golden Ratio in Photography? The golden ratio is a ratio of approximately 1.618 to 1. Artists have used this ratio for centuries to create works of art from paintings to architecture. Beethoven uses it in his famous fifth Symphony.
Photography Composition Rule #1: Use the Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds refers to dividing your image into three horizontal sections and three vertical sections. You should have two lines running top to bottom, and two lines running left to right.
Normally, the rule of threes contains the following: You can survive three minutes without breathable air (unconsciousness), or in icy water. You can survive three hours in a harsh environment (extreme heat or cold). You can survive three days without drinkable water.
From the rule of three, it can be concluded with 95% confidence that fewer than 1 person in 500 (or 3/1500) will experience an adverse event. By symmetry, for only successes, the 95% confidence interval is [1−3/n,1].
Aristotle made the observation that people find it easiest to remember three things. The rule of three started with his writing, “The Rhetoric;” In fact, in many of the areas where the rule of three is practiced (and there are a lot of them), it is referred to as rhetoric.
Essentially, the rule of thirds tells you not to place the main elements in the center of photos. For example, if you're photographing a waterfall, you wouldn't put it directly in the center. Instead, you'd shift it to the left or right.