Extension Research

Understanding The Rule of Thirds

when we first got our introduction in to the rule of thirds, I understood it but not fully and since we would be recording soon I thought that I should research it and understand it fully before making silly mistakes that could cost us marks on the real thing.

The principle behind the rule of thirds is to break down an image in to three parts both horizontally and vertically so that we are left this 9 equal squares.

Where these imaginary lines cross suggests four optional points to place the object of which you are photographing.

The point at which you are plotting your object depends on the object itself or perhaps what the object is doing. For example if the feature was a person and they was running from the left to the right hand side of the picture then you would need to place the person in the left hand vertical intersect so the viewer is able to see where the person is running to.

 The picture to the right isn't correct because the viewer cant see where the person is jogging to and also it looks as if the person is going to jog right out of shot. 

Also if you have a person in the shot, the top of their head must be in any of the top thirds of the shot depending on what it is that they are doing.

In the rule of thirds there should always be more space in front of the person rather than behind them. This still applies if the person is stationary in the shot.

Showing my understanding of the rule of thirds

Here are a few shots i have taken portraying my understanding;