Make Your Photos Interesting

By Ed Tepper on October 21, 2009

Using the “Rule of Thirds”

Artists have been using the “Rule of Thirds” for centuries draw the viewers’ attention to the most interesting part of the work. The rule is simple to follow. When framing your photo in the viewfinder or LCD screen draw an imaginary Tic-Tac-Toe box on your image and place the area of most interest on or near one of the crosshairs. Let’s examine the two photos shown below.

The top photo was taken of me and my wife by a fellow passenger on a cruise ship in Alaska. The photo does not draw you into it. By placing us in the dead center of the picture he included too much unexciting sky and the person on the right is a real distraction. I cropped the photo to create Photo 2. Note that our faces are right on the upper right crosshairs. Your eyes are naturally drawn to our faces and we become the center of interest of the photo. You still can tell that we’re on a ship in a cold place; in fact the glacier in the background now really adds to the scene rather than being part of a boring background.

Let’s look a another example:

To where in the photo are your eyes drawn? In this photo your eyes are naturally drawn to the horsewoman’s face which is set on the top left crosshairs. You note the determination and concentration on her face as she jumps on fence and focuses on the next.

Remember the Rule of Thirds to improve your photos. And remember that all rules are meant to be broken J.