The term rule of thirds was originally coined back in 1797 by painter John Thomas Smith.
The rule of thirds was first written down by John Thomas Smith in 1797. In his book Remarks on Rural Scenery, Smith quotes a 1783 work by Sir Joshua Reynolds, in which Reynolds discusses, in unquantified terms, the balance of dark and light in a painting.
Indeed, theorists, artists, and bloggers have looked everywhere—including to universal mathematical principles—to understand why the eye is satisfied by such a composition, but the first person to cite and name the Rule of Thirds was an 18th-Century painter, engraver, and writer named John Thomas Smith.
The painting is is a good reminder of how the Rule of Thirds can be used to create natural groupings of people within a composition. The rule of thirds was documented by John Thomas Smith in 1797.
The Rule of Thirds
There was never any mentioning of a rule of thirds, until an English painter called John Thomas Smith came up with the rule after reading the discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds. He took the 1/3:2/3 division even further and said it should be used for everything in a composition.
Breaking the rule of thirds.
Pull back from your subject: “If your subject is going to be a really small part of the image,” photographer Derek Boyd suggests, “sometimes the best way to highlight them is to break the rule of thirds and put them almost dead center in the image.”
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.
At that time, people debated the balance between warm to cold colors and how much painting each element should occupy. They said one-third should be for land and water, and two-thirds should be for air and sky. This is where the concept for the name came from.
The Golden Ratio (or Phi grid) is obtained by dividing the frame with a ratio of 1.61803:1 between the lateral and central columns, drawing 2 horizontal and 2 vertical lines, which will form 9 rectangles, as in the rule of thirds.
Three bullet points drive home the message more effectively than two or four. The Rule of Three is a powerful technique or principle required for writing or speaking. It states that any ideas, thoughts, events, characters or sentences that are presented in threes are more effective and memorable.
The Rule of Three (also Three-fold Law or Law of Return) is a religious tenet held by some Wiccans, Neo-Pagans and occultists. It states that whatever energy a person puts out into the world, be it positive or negative, will be returned to that person three times.
Why? Using the rule of thirds draws the viewer's eye into the composition, instead of just glancing at the center. By placing the subject off center, you also embrace more blank space. The rule of thirds is also helpful for highlighting an interesting background.
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.
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.
The rule of thirds is a general rule of thumb that can result in excellent compositions, but it doesn't always apply. In fact, many famous photographs have been taken without using the rule of thirds. And many brilliant graphics have been created without obeying the rule as well.
Ansel Adams makes use of the rule of thirds in this photograph, lining up the points of interest along the lines represented. There are three major points along the intersections – one cross, a dark shadow featured in a doorway and the location of a bell tower.
“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.” This hit me hard. It's a potent reminder that progress never feels linear.
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. Here is an example of the rule of thirds for a landscape photo.
The Rule of Thirds is a derivative of the “Golden Ratio”, a mathematical relationship of proportion that can found in our natural world. This unique ratio has been studied by mathematicians for centuries and utilized by artists and architects such as Salvador Dali, Le Corbusier, and Leonardo da Vinci.
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 the process of dividing an image into thirds, using two horizontal and two vertical lines. This imaginary grid yields nine segments with four intersection points. When you position the most important elements of your image at these intersections, you produce a much more natural image (in theory).
If possible (i.e.: you are choosing and cropping imagery or directing a photographer), use the rule of fifths which is to splice the imagine into five equal columns for horizontal images. The focus should never be exactly in the center, but rather take up the majority (3/5) of the total image area.