HOW TO USE THE RULES OF CLASSIC COMPOSITION

Use methods employed by artists over the centuries to help you create engaging compositions every time

As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it – and that’s certainly the case with the tried-and-tested ‘rule of thirds’ for composing your photos, whatever the genre. This is a compositional trick where you divide your frame into nine equal boxes and place points of interest along those lines, or where the lines intersect, for even more compositional clout.

It’s generally agreed that a composition that follows the rule of thirds is more engaging and eyecatching than one that doesn’t: you can find examples of this framing technique in the paintings of JMW Turner and even further back, so the rule has seemingly been around for as long as artists have been creating art.

That being said, we’d also like to remind you that rules are made to be broken; so once you’ve tried a few shots using the rule of thirds, be sure to experiment with different compositions to see if you can get an even better result.

PERFECT PRESENTATION BUILD YOUR SCENE

1 LIGHTING