Rule of Thirds...

Huh? You say.... lol... Well, I am talking about photos and how you take them!  It is Jenn (jk703) here again with a tip for photography!  Now, I am trying to learn as I go, so I need to practice my own tips as well!  But, through my research, here is what I've found to be useful!

First, let me explain quickly what the Rule of Thirds is.  It is the basic dividing of a photo into thirds...by rows or columns.  Though, in my opinion, it is more of ninths, because there are nine quadrants!!  LOL!  A lot of times when cropping, you will see the grid, like in my picture below:

Those grid lines can change your picture so much!  Right now, I've used the crop tool to crop the photo and place the sun in the center of the picture!  Kinds of looks funny! The Rule of Thirds is a basic assumption that you should place the primary parts or focus on the grid intersections.  I've cropped my photo, and added some red dots to show you how I aligned my photo!

I actually like the way it cropped.  The boat is off to the side and my sunset with reflections looks nice to the left a bit!  It provide a well balanced, but interesting photo!  Many cameras have a grid function that you can add for your viewfinder (Dslr) or on the Point and Shoot models.  Check your reference manuals!  Here are some more examples from a trip we took to the Florida Keys! On some, you will have to imagine the quadrants, lol!

Now, remember - this is just a guideline... many times rules are meant to be broken!  Here is an example.  I loved how this picture turned out of my Dad and cousin... with the scenery.  If I moved the photo based on quadrants, it didn't look right!  

Share some of your photos... post a link!  Have fun with your photos and be sure to come back for a visit soon!

Happy Holidays!
Jenn
(jk703)