The Rule Of Thirds And How To Break It

What exactly is the “Rule of Thirds”? The rule is simple to explain but for some it may be hard to put into practice. You should imagine breaking an image down into thirds, both vertically and horizontally, so that you have 9 segments like the demonstration below.


This is basically a tic-tac-toe board. Too often photographs have the subject placed directly in the center of the frame, which makes the picture look dull and uninteresting. To keep this from happening try to place the subject on one of the horizontal or vertical lines. The easy way to properly follow the rule of thirds is to not have your subject directly in the center square. Sound simple?

Now on to breaking the rule … a photographer may want to break the rule of thirds to add an artistic flair or to add drama to a photograph. But be aware that breaking the rule may be harder than it seems.

Hopefully this post will help you to understand the rule of thirds.