Rule of Thirds in Photography

Rule of Thirds and Photography
Jim Zuckerman

Instead of talking about using the Rule of Thirds, I really want to talk about breaking one of the rules contained in the Rule of Thirds.

If you’ve been involved in photography (or art) for any length of time, you know that important elements in your compositions are not supposed to be placed in the center of the frame. Instead, the convention is to place them off-center, and more specifically, along the horizontal or vertical thirds of the frame. The ‘power points’ are the four places in the frame where the horizontal and vertical thirds intersect, and these places are reserved for the most important subjects in the picture.

I would like to submit to you that this isn’t always the way things should be. This morning I put together this composite of my wife and a 3D abstraction of clouds. I used the background image as an example in my Photoshop II course in the lesson about working in three dimensions. It was created using the Andromeda filter 3D-luxe. I texture mapped a photo of clouds on a sphere and then placed the sphere in front of the original picture of the clouds. Then, I cut and pasted the photo of my wife in front of it.

Note, though, that the placement of my wife is right in the center of the picture, and, too, the sphere is dead center. If this were presented to a typical camera club competition, I’d bet a hundred dollars that the judges would not approve of such an arrangement of elements. But the question is, does it work artistically? I say yes, it does. And I think most people would agree.

Can this same concept work if my wife is placed off-center? Actually, yes, it can. I’ve uploaded a second picture to prove that.

Which one is better? That is a matter of personal taste. I like both of them.

Comments

[Karma]

Hmmmm....here on the comment page she IS in the center, but on the instructor blog page the picture was cut to put her more in the rule of thirds (ironically) and I admit to being partial to that one--although I'd have never thought it had I seen the centered version first. I thought you lost it at first though because she was so obviously off center (to the right of the frame).

I love the whole idea of the picture though. Very creative and wistful....

Karma

[Pam M]

LOL Jim! I was going to very very carefully disagree with you about your wife being located in the center of the photograph ... Until I clicked on the comments link ... THEN I could see the entire picture. The start page of your blog seems to be truncating the photographs ... neatly cropping on the right.

Now that I can see the whole picture ... I will say this: The reason the image you created completely works is entirely contained within the Gestalt Theories. Basically, as long as the judges are familiar with the psychology of images, they will know of at least six reasons that this image is a very strong piece of art.

I love it!

have fun,
pam
[hoping hoping hoping to see you in Seattle! ... have to see how my move to Portland goes.]

[Heather]

Jim, your images are simply stunning and unique. The information you give in your posts is fantastic.

[Jua]

I like the centered one better. But I am more visually pleased by the rule of thirds. I honestly think the decision of whether to abide by the rule of thirds or not to in a photograph depends on what kind of feeling that you want to portray and send out through that photograph. All in all I definitely agree with you, but I prefer rule of thirds most of the time.