I just wanted to post this link to some good information about the rule of thirds and how it is used to help in photo composition. I have made a few comments this week about how the rule of thirds may have helped or improved my view on some challenge entries. I just thought I would share this link :)
I just wanted to post this link to some good information about the rule of thirds and how it is used to help in photo composition. I have made a few comments this week about how the rule of thirds may have helped or improved my view on some challenge entries. I just thought I would share this link :)
I was reading a photography book this weekend, and it explained the rule of thirds pretty clearly to me. One suggestion they made is if you just cannot visually divide your LCD, mark the lines with transparent tape. Then, you have a physical reminder every time you look at the picture. Don't know if I would advise that or not, but I thought it was kinda funny.
On my casio it has a grid overlay option but i never use it.. The vertical is divided into thirds but the horizontal is divided in fourths...personally i find it distracting while shooting.. I try to keep the rule in mind but sometimes I forget about it especially since the focus thingamajig (diopter I think) is in the center and I want to snap something quick.
It can be saved by cropping -- but I once heard a photo teacher say something along the lines of, "Why waste film [or pixels] if you can get it right the first time around."
I just wanted to post this link to some good information about the rule of thirds and how it is used to help in photo composition. I have made a few comments this week about how the rule of thirds may have helped or improved my view on some challenge entries. I just thought I would share this link :)
Nice1 John. I'm sure this will be helpful for alot of us novices. Maybe you could get this link added to the tutorials page or maybe do a tutorial for the page yourself ;-)
Thanks John. The rule of thirds has been mentioned in several of my comments this week (yours included). My photo was cropped from a larger photo (sorry about the waste Patella) and I didn't crop it in the right place. I went back last night and recropped the original. I also sharpened it a little more and added a photoshop correction (one not allowed in competition) since I don't own any lense filters and the result had a much stronger impact than the original. I'll post it after the week is up so everyone can see how some good advice really helps.
Originally posted by shortredneck: I'll post it after the week is up so everyone can see how some good advice really helps.
I love it when I hear other people other than myself doing this. I wonder if there's a section where "before" and "after" could be posted on photos that have greatly benefited from comments. Maybe that would encourage good comments, too, as their names and comments would be read under the original, or even mentioned under the second version.
I have an interesting comment on my photo this week about not properly applying the rule of thirds also... I *thouhgt* had applied it very well but I guess not.. lol :)
I just got a positive comment on "Rule of Thirds". Maybe some1 saw this thread, used the link to check out what it meant, and now are going through the pictures commenting on this. Guess they learned something new to comment on. See john, you taught some1 something useful;-)
Originally posted by Patella: Nothing wrong with saving a photo if you have to shortredneck -- just better if you don't have to. *grin*
Not always true :) I often find myself shooting a digital photo that is poorly composed on purpose. I like to give myself some latitude sometimes so I can create the perfect crop by trying different ones. I suppose it all depends on your final intentions for the image. If I plan to print, I always try to completely compose with the camera in order to get more pixels to the printer...
i usually do both. i take one shot from further away so i have plenty of room for cropping (as a backup), and then others pretty close to how i want to compose. then pick the best of the lot or work with the fall-back strategy. since i went digital, i just don't seem to be able to take just a couple of shots anymore, it's always lots and lots and lots. good thing those pixels are reusable! :)
Be sure to also read the other stuff like "simplicity" (which I think would be a good thing for a lot of photos on this site) and "lines" etc. This is the main menu to the whole turorial. I read this one last week and was so surprised what an big effect it could have when you keep these guidelines in mind. I thought everybody else knew this and felt so dumb ;-) So after I read this I picked composition as my "free study". That's how I understood the challenge: don't just take a random shot but try to show some skills. And so far it paid off. Looks like it will be my best scored photo ever :-)
