Tip #5. Composition and understanding the “rule of thirds”
This may come as a shock, so brace yourself. The rule of thirds originally had NOTHING to do with dividing an image (be that a photograph, a drawing or a painting) with two equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines into nine equally sized squares or rectangles. A photograph does NOT become better or more balanced by placing anything in either of the four places where these four lines intersect or on any of these imaginary lines. If this is true, then what’s the deal?
The term was first coined by John Thomas Smith in 1797 when he quotes Sir Joshua Reynolds, when discussing a work by Rembrandt called “The Cradle” (also referred to as “The Holy Family with Angels”) . It is interesting to note that Sir Joshua Reynolds isn’t really referring to dividing the painting into equal thirds in terms of sections. His reference is more to light as he states, “two thirds of the picture are in shadow”.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn painting called “The Cradle” (also referred to as “The Holy Family with Angels”)
And the theory (not “rule”), is not even about thirds but rather a theory of percentages and describes “The Cradle” in saying: “two thirds of the picture are in shadow.”, and this is really where thinking about thirds originates. Not as a question of subdivision into thirds, but rather than dividing a painting into TWO sections, one that is a third of the image, the other the rest. The “third” part is merely about how much of an image (painting in his case) is bright and not so bright respectively.
The same can be said about the golden ratio, or any other composition rules. How we even got to attempting to explain composition in terms of math or equally dividing section of a scene… I don’t know. But I DO know this. Forget about the “rule of thirds” as you knew it. Instead think of terms of tonality. How much of the scene is lighter than is darker. Try and use THIS as a compositional ‘rule’. Make your photograph so YOU find it interesting, and don’t be confused by all the well-meaning people, that think they know the right answer, when all they do is actually repeat what they hear others say without actually understanding the fundamental principle behind that ‘rule’.
Composition has much more to do with contrast, placing elements in juxtaposition, negative space, arabesque and flow. Obviously, you can compose your photograph so leading lines or other elements point to an area of interest, but never take for granted that the viewer will follow a set of “rules” to discover what you found particularly interesting when you made the photograph. Make it easy for your viewers to discover the contents of your image.
Continue reading this article go to Tip #6: Photographing people, or go back to the introduction.