Rule Of Thirds

The rule of thirds is the most used and referenced to when it comes to photography and following rules on how to get the best kinds of photos. When taking photos and doing photography there are many different techniques that can be used to try getting the best quality photo that you possibly can. The most popular rule to use is the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is a technique that is used by photographers, film makers and artists to give themselves a guideline when taking photos of objects, landscape and people. The guideline produces a guide that the image in then divided into. These nine equal rectangles compose the image as the guide helps centre the image. The grid creates extra added tension and interests to the picture as you are able to focus the visual syntax more on the image.

The horizontal line cuts the image up into two thirds which is then where it is separated into smaller sections. Due to dividing the sections up into further smaller parts it helps create an accurate looking image and picture. The point of interest is then brought to the centre of the picture (the middle section) which then results in the picture/image being a better quality as the image is more likely to be in focus. For example this image shows how the rule of thirds works, the tree image is on the line of the grid where it’s then in line with the rest of the things around it such as the water and then sky.  When using the grid it gives parts of the image more empathizes which creates a meaning for the photo which people enjoy looking at and thinking about other things that it could mean. However the points of interest in the photo don't actually have to touch any of the guidelines they can simply just be placed inside of one or a collection of the different boxes.

The rule of thirds was first written down by John Thomas Smith in 1797 who was a photographer that looked at many different ways of making his photos and the images that he took that one step better. He wrote books on the photos that he took and what he discovered when he took his images, his most popular book ‘Remarks on Rural Scenery’ which is about his opinions on photos and how he thinks they should be taken, Smith makes a comment about his work and how he thinks that people need to balance the light and dark in photos like artists do in paintings. Then he created the idea of the rule of thirds so that once you had an image you didn't have to worry about having to crop and change it later on so you were able to save the quality of the image. 

This is what the grid looks like; all the sections are the same size so all hold the same size of image. You can change the way that the picture looks by creating a counterpoint which is your primary focus in the image, you can also place a secondary focus which is on the opposite side of the image.

Apart from only using the rule of thirds method you are also able to use the Golden Mean method which is a spiral pattern that is used when taking photos of nature. The Golden Mean is very similar to the rule of thirds however it’s when the lines don’t exactly line up. Most natural objects are in a spiral pattern which makes it hard to sometimes take photos of natural objects such as shells and landscape.