| The digital camera has come a long way since it was | | | | taking a picture, place the subject where two lines |
| first introduced. There are more bells and whistles on | | | | intersect. That's it! |
| them now than ever before. The one thing that hasn't | | | | The idea behind the rule of thirds is to keep your |
| changed over the years is the basic principles of a | | | | subject out of the exact center of the picture every |
| good photograph. | | | | time. Autofocus cameras put the sensor right in the |
| If you look through a typical photo album, you'll see that | | | | middle of the viewfinder; and that doesn't help. But |
| the majority of the subjects in the photo are in the | | | | most of them have the means of "locking" the focus |
| dead center of the picture. There are cases where | | | | and letting you move your subject out of the center. |
| this is desirable, but most pictures would be much | | | | It's usually a case of holding the shutter release button |
| more interesting if the subject were slightly off center. | | | | halfway down and shifting the camera left or right, up |
| It makes the viewer of the photo "look around" the | | | | or down. Once you try it, it'll become automatic. |
| picture instead of staring only in the center. It creates a | | | | Some cameras will let you lock the exposure using the |
| "flow." | | | | same method. If you focus properly on your subject |
| The old masters used the "rule of thirds" in their photos | | | | and they are well exposed, locking the focus will lock |
| and there's no reason why you shouldn't apply this | | | | the exposure too. It won't matter if new light or dark |
| valuable principle too. Pick an old photo or magazine | | | | areas enter the picture after you shift the subject into |
| photo for this experiment. Draw lines that divide the | | | | one of the "thirds." Your main subject will now be more |
| photo into thirds. Do it horizontally and vertically. You'll | | | | interesting, in focus, and well exposed. |
| now have a tic-tac-toe board on the photo. When | | | | |