Shoot-Along Tutorial #1 - Rule of Thirds

[iluvdisnee]

I "THINK" these apply to ROT

 

[Bugdozer]

Not sure if these apply:

 

[Bugdozer]

 

[Bugdozer]

 

[PhotobearSam]

but not exactly right though

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

OK, folks, how about this one:

The moon was still out on my way to work, this morning, and I liked the soft pinkish color of the clouds surrounding it. I put the moon right at the upper-right crossing.

I like the pine tree framing the left of the scene, but I could do without those 'sticks' at the lower-right.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[jann1033]

OK, folks, how about this one:

The moon was still out on my way to work, this morning, and I liked the soft pinkish color of the clouds surrounding it. I put the moon right at the upper-right crossing.

I like the pine tree framing the left of the scene, but I could do without those 'sticks' at the lower-right.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

you might be able to crop them out or use one of the healing tools to get rid of them. but, nice shot

 

[123SA]

Ok I understand RoT for static or scenery pictures. But what about WDW when I go to take pictures of the kids with characters? While I may take some other pictures, primarily I'm taking pictures of them and a good portion of them are with characters. What applies here? Any examples?

I'd like to see some too.

 

[jann1033]

i went out to actually work on this, only took me what a month
i've got this thing with cacti in B&w going in my head

new addition to cleveland art museum ( it's huge looks like it doubles the space almost) it matches part of the old except it is cleaner but i loved the horizontal line vrs the vertical trees and shadows. some day when my hands are steady i'll get rid of those pesky left twigs

 

[AndrewWG]

Ok I understand RoT for static or scenery pictures. But what about WDW when I go to take pictures of the kids with characters? While I may take some other pictures, primarily I'm taking pictures of them and a good portion of them are with characters. What applies here? Any examples?

My opinion on this is that you aren't trying to make a visually appealing "artwork" style photo in these cases. You are simply recording a fond memory. In this case, I don't think that the rule of thirds should even be considered.

 

[PhotobearSam]

My opinion on this is that you aren't trying to make a visually appealing "artwork" style photo in these cases. You are simply recording a fond memory. In this case, I don't think that the rule of thirds should even be considered.

I totally agree. A candid shot sure, try it out, but for a staged shot with a character, I think it's more important to see the whole character then also do a close up on the faces. That's what i do.

 

[jann1033]

just guessing on this, maybe some of our portrait photos will see this and give us official rules and i don't have any examples but i do think you still want to think a little about composition ie not line up everybody flat against the nearest wall and shoot . you probably could aim for eyes of one to be close to the rot mark. i think sometimes they will bend down with a child so pick what is most important to you ( ie the child or the character depending on if it's just for "vacation memories" or maybe they want a photo of the character they got an autograph of) from the scene and make that face your focal point

 

[Ducky4Disney]

This isn't the best photo - the more I look at it the less I like it. But I think it's a good one for the RoT.

Here's a project for you! This pic gets better if you crop it some. I have a cropped version on my desktop. How would you crop it?

D4D

 

[praline3001]

:::sitting in the corner furiously taking notes:::

Hi everyone! I hate to be such a lurker on this forum but alas my photography skills are not even approachable to most of you!

I am taking lots of notes ... heck I never even heard of the ROT before!

I do love taking pictures and my theory is if I take enough shots I am bound to get one decent one

anyway... just wanted to pop out and let you know I was lurking and thanks for all of this great advice!

 

[AndrewWG]

This isn't the best photo - the more I look at it the less I like it. But I think it's a good one for the RoT.

Here's a project for you! This pic gets better if you crop it some. I have a cropped version on my desktop. How would you crop it?

D4D

I would crop this just slightly tighter on the sides, almost until it was portrait and not landscape mode. This isn't so much ROT although the pic is slightly up towards the top third, but it is a real good example of both framing the subject (with the bushes and trees) and converging lines (the walkway leading up to the building).

 

[jann1033]

i agree with andy, this is such a symmetrical shot i probably would ignore rot except for the horizon and center it, emphasis the stability of the building that way.

i do have a rot question i am never sure of though...do you consider the actual horizon or the break in the land and the sky and consider that as the horizon, i'm never sure what to do there...ie in this case it would be either the top or bottom of the trees

 

[°O°Joe]

Great thread Mark... as a beginner at photography, I constantly find myself totally blowing the rule of thirds rule. In my case, about 75% of the time, I end up cropping to get somewhere closer to the rule of thirds grid intersections. I'm learning. Here's an example that I just put together where in the original photo the witch was very much centered. By cropping and using rule of thirds, the new picture draws the eyes to the witch much more effectively, IMO. All that said, it is much better to frame using the rule of thirds on the original shot...

Original:

Cropped with rule of thirds gridlines:

End Result:

 

[Michele]

I agree the picture of the witch seems very dramatic after the crop.

You reminded me of something new I have learned about my computer since this thread started. I have a Mac and use iPhoto. When I crop there are RoT gridlines shown.

I'm sure other programs do this as well, and maybe even the old program I used had them, I just never knew why they were there before. Thanks to this thread, I now know how to use them.

 

[Ducky4Disney]

Hey, I like the RoT gridlines on the crop box! What program do you use to do that? I wonder if PS Elements can do that. I turned on my viewfinder grid soon after getting my D200. It helps a lot - I wish I could crop that way!

I'm looking through my photos and I always thought that I considered the RoT in my picture taking. But now I'm not seeing it so much. The idea of converging lines sounds more like my style of photography. Have we done a converging lines thread yet? I can contribute there!

D4D

 

[DueyDooDah]

... I wonder if PS Elements can do that. ...

Yes. Use preferences and change the Grid to be every 33.333 percent, then turn on Grid.