Tony Reynolds
Senior Member
Too bad that with all of the options in the D7i, the grid focus/composition screen is broken up into 24 segments, instead of thirds, 6 squares wide by 4 squares high...
My "other" camera, a Fuji 4700z has this feature.
Tony
My "other" camera, a Fuji 4700z has this feature.
Tony
I'm starting these composition classes with my fallback rule, that
old classic: the Rule of Thirds. I use it if I can't see any other
obvious way of composing a picture, or often in combination with
one of the other "rules".
"When in doubt, use the Rule of Thirds," I say.
The Rule of Thirds is very simple in principle: you mentally divide
the area of the picture into thirds, with two vertical and two
horizontal lines, and compose your picture around the nine areas
and four intersections.
The simplest variant is to put your subject near one of the four
intersections. Like this:
![]()
However, this isn't all. For example, the RoT gives a good rule of
thumb for where to put the horizon on a landscape. For example:
![]()
Of course, the horizon could just as well have been on the top
line; this time, though, I thought the sky was more interesting
than the water, so I put it where it is.
Yet another idea is to compose the picture around the regions
delimited by the lines, not by the lines or the intersections:
![]()
I find that often just thinking about the picture in terms of the
rule of thirds improves things. It can also be used very
effectively in combination with other "rules," and sometimes
consciously breaking it leads to very interesting pictures too.
However, if no obvious way of composing the picture suggests
itself, the Rule of Thirds is usually a good way to go -- and
almost always better than the non-composition of just putting the
subject splat in the middle of the picture.
Finally, here's the assignment:
1. Present a photo of yours where you've used the Rule of Thirds in
some way -- either one of the ways described above, or some other
way.
2. Explain the way you've used it, and why you used it that way and
not some other way.
3. For extra credit: explain why you chose the Rule of Thirds and
not some other compositional idea.
Have fun,
Petteri
--
http://www.seittipaja.fi/index/