Rules of Photography

Photography Composition Articles: Golden Ratio, Rule of Thirds, Golden Mean, Golden Section.
The Basics of Landscape Composition by Diane Johnson

This article is about painting, but it's applicable to the photography.
Photo Technique by James Gentles

Good description of golden rules.
Rule of Thirds by Edwin Leong

Photography e-Book, chapter 15. Several advices.
The Golden Ratio by Edwin Leong

Photography e-Book, chapter 16. Interesting description.
Lessons in Composition for the Amateur Photographer by Dale Cotton

This part is about "Rule of Thirds".
Proportions: Theorie and Construction by Volker Muller

Explained the mathematical rules of Golden Mean, Modulor, and Square Root of Two.
Composition by Michael Minner

Portrait photography and the Rule of Thirds.
Finding a satisfactory format for a square canvas by John Hagan

Painting examples.
Photography, the Golden Mean, and Geeky Coolness by Laurie Nyveen

Several short examples.
Golden Section and Photography by Eugene Ilchenko

Several examples and photo-adjuster tool to help to adjust the composition.
Creativity and the Rule of Thirds by Jim Altengarten

Good article with description and examples.
The Rule of Thirds by John Longenecker

Description of the Rule of Thirds as well as a lot of related links.
The Golden Mean by Stuart Low

Natural and mathematical rules and how they have been applied in design.
Space, Figure, and Ground Lesson by Petteri Sulonen

The objective of this lesson is to introduce three fundamental elements in compositional thinking.
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Photography Composition Articles: Golden Ratio, Rule of Thirds, Golden Mean, Golden Section.
Composition Basics lesson by Michael Fodor

General principles of the Rule of Thirds and the Golden Mean as well as several composition advises.
Rule of Thirds lesson by Michael Fodor

Examples of the Rule of Thirds.
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The Basics of Landscape Composition: Rule of Thirds, Golden Section.
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The Basics of Landscape Composition
Composition is one of the most challenging yet powerful and exciting aspects of painting. It is the technical foundation of your painting. Without it, paintings visually fall apart. Careful consideration of the composition before putting paint to surface will make your session more enjoyable, and contribute to the success of your painting. Work out your composition early, moving yourself or elements around until the arrangement is pleasing to you. Making major changes and adjustments later in the painting process is much more difficult. All of the elements found in your painting (sky, land, water, buildings, etc.) should be in balanced relationship of scale, shapes, rhythm, pattern, etc. In a landscape painting, you'll look for a foreground, middle ground and background (see my lesson on "Building Your Plein air Painting" for more on this.)
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Balancing Your Painting:

You should have a strong center of interest, or focal point. This is the element to which all other elements will direct the viewer. You may have secondary elements, but attempt to have just one center of interest. Use the other features in your painting, sky, trees, and flowers, to lead and keep the viewer coming back to the focal point. Doing this will also create a sense of depth and space in your painting. Technically, there are two kinds of balance in a composition. Symmetrical balance (also referred to as "formal"), and asymmetrical balance (also called "informal balance"). Symmetrical balance produces paintings that are restful, calming, and visually stable. Asymmetrical balance is characterized by arranging related or unrelated objects of differing visual weights counterbalancing one another. This can heighten interest, bring informality, or even produce tension in a painting. While both are ways correct, yet each offers different advantages and purpose.
How to Compose: Using a viewfinder

Once you've selected your subject, how do you compose your painting? There are several approaches. One simple way is to use a viewfinder. An empty 35mm slide holder will do nicely, or simply cut two right angle corners, or fixed rectangle out of a piece of cardboard. If you have a prepared size canvas, board, or paper, first look through the viewfinder to capture the proportion of your painting surface. Then look through the viewfinder with one eye while squinting with the other, to view the scene you wish to paint. Move the viewfinder toward and away from your eye fine-tuning the composition by deciding whether you prefer an symmetrical or asymmetrical, vertical or horizontal composition, and so on. Don't be limited by the shape of the viewfinder (unless the surface you are using is a fixed shape.) Physically move around until you see exactly what you want, then set up your equipment.
Rule of Thirds
Composition Design Checklist: Here are just a few things to keep in mind and check while composing:
Another guide in composing is the "rule of thirds". Used more in photography than in art, the concept still applies. Simply put, look for naturally occurring in divisions of thirds in a scene. Try to avoid splitting your painting top to bottom, or side to side in half. It is more interesting to have a low or high horizon for instance, with one third at the top, two thirds at the bottom (or visa-versa) than splitting a painting right down the middle. Of course, many more variations are possible.
- balance, of elements & color - proper rendering of light using value - center of interest - perspective - space division - harmony - movement - rhythm - texture - direction of line(s) - positive/negative shapes - balance of patterns - contrast - creativity - overall design quality & visual strength
TIP: To check your composition while painting, view through a mirror turning your back toward the scene & easel. Shift your eyes back & forth between the painting and scene. Check for skewed elements, alignment, color, etc. Turn back to the painting to make your changes.
The Law of the Golden Section

A classic mathematical formula for distributing weight in a painting. Portrait painters since the Renaissance have adopted the use of this formula which is also applicable to any other subject as well. The law established by the ancient architect called Vitruvius, states: "For a space divided into equal parts to be agreeable and aesthetic, between the smallest and largest parts there must be the same relationship as between this larger part and the whole space." You can find more in-depth explanations about this law in the book, The Big Book of Oil Painting, by Jos M. Parramn.
The Key
The idea is to become familiar with the principles above as a guide in training your eyes to naturally create interesting and powerful compositions. In so doing, work to simplify, reducing all elements in the painting to only the information you need to express your subject or idea. In time, the very deliberate process of developing a composition will give way to a more natural, intuitive, interesting, and automatic activity, resulting in more original arrangements. You will also be better able to control your visual statement by expressing what you wish.
Just a few of many compositional possibilities:
L. Diane Johnson is an award winning graphic designer, illustrator and fine artist with over 26 years experience. Diane is represented by galleries nationwide. Visit her site for more information at www.LDianeJohnson.com. Diane is a contributing editor to WetCanvas! and can be reached via email at info@LDianeJohnson.com. 1996-2000 L. Diane Johnson, PSA
Leave the comments, or discuss this article in our forum.
Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here: http://www.ldianejohnson.com/landscape_comp.html
photoinf.com 2003-2005
Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Technique
Kite Aerial Photography Photo Technique

I've been interested in photography for longer than I'd like to say, mainly landscape of Scotland's mountains when I was younger, and I've come back to landscape with KAP. This page consists of a number of KAP and landscape images illustrating various photographic points. These look like a set of rules, but at the outset I'd like to place these rules in context. Photography is an art, with some craft. For me the rules set a framework of what tends to work and what doesn't. They are not there to be blindly followed, in fact breaking them can make a picture. However over the years I have found that understanding the rules, helps get a better picture. The idea is to get to the stage that you do some of these things instinctively, and that's when you start to move away from the rules and become creative! One final point. Most photographic books or web-pages I read assume you have a stable tripod for landscape work. In a similar way to the still life boys you spend a long time selecting the scene and composing the picture. Even with the most stable suspension system in the world this just isn't going to happen with KAP. So my premis is that when you compose the picture you do the best you can then shoot off lots of digital images. Once back on the computer you can use your instinct to select, crop, edit and stitch an image. Purists will argue that this post-processing on the computer isn't in the spirit of photography, but I see it all as part of the art, craft, and fun of KAP.
Why bother?
KAP isn't easy, as well as all the normal photographic considerations, you need a rig, a kite, the right wind, a kite launch site, and a greater consideration for the safety of others - why bother? I believe that low altitude photography can give a unique perspective on the world. In order to demonstrate this consider the following four images of Warkworth Castle in Northumberland:
From the Car Park, Warkworth Castle (English Heritage) maintains a formidable entrance across the dry-moat. This is the wide-angled view that every visitor gets of the castle from the south, with a limited view of what may lie inside.
c James Gentles 2003
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From the kite, some of the castles secrets are revealed. The moat and walls still guard the interior, but the layout of the various buildings within becomes more obvious. Strong oblique sunshine accentuates the ramparts, and the earth mound the castle sits on. This makes the castle stand-out of the foreground.
c James Gentles 2003
From an airplane a further dimension is seen, with the castle's prominent defensive position on a loop on the River Coquet. In addition the village of Warkworth can now be seen nestling behind, and filling the loop in the river. Thanks to Airimages, based in Northumberland, for allowing the inclusion of this complimentary view.
c airimages at www.airimages.co.uk
Finally this shot has a different appeal, more of a living map than a photograph. The strategic position of the castle is demonstrated, however much of the impact of it's dramatic location is lost as all relief disappears due to the height of the camera above ground. Additionally, unwanted elements in the picture (like the two bridges above the town) become a distraction.
c Getmapping served directly from www.multimap. com
My conclusion is that KAP, aerial and satellite images can all play to their strengths, depending on the subject matter. Each one has it's own technical difficulties, however there are rewards for those who overcome them. Another important lesson is that you don't need 1000' of line to take a good picture, in fact I would argue that since KAP fills the low-altitude aerial photography niche, you should stick to below 500' (local legal restrictions permitting), and play to the strength! There is however no excuse for poor photographs, so both a technical and artistic challenge requires to be overcome...
Places and Patience

So, first of all what do I take pictures of? You may have started KAP with a view to taking particular pictures, however they have to meet photogenic as well as practical rules. What looks good from the air is something you have to learn, sometimes the simplest objects can look stunning, and stunning objects can look boring. Look at other people's galleries and translate them into ideas in your locality. One combination I find works is the mix of impossible angle, simple subject, and strong colour, yes the roof really is that shade of green! You will spend several hours on a shoot, so pick your subjects carefully! This is when the practicalities get in the way. Reconnoiter the site before hand. Where will you launch the kite? What wind directions are favourable? Are there cables or power lines ANYWHERE nearby? What is the best kite to use for high angle or long reach? Be patient! Wait for the right wind and weather, even the right time of day for sun angles, before returning for the shoot. I keep a list of potential sites, with details of launch sites, wind conditions etc.
Frame and Line

There are a number of basic rules about the framing of a picture. Most basic is the Golden Ratio (1:1.618), which is supposed to be the most pleasing to view. Generally landscape format is considered more soothing and portrait more tense. The Rule of Thirds highlights where areas of interest or lines should be. Interest should lie on these lines, or be centered around the 4 intersections, or hot-spots. It is considered good practice to have the horizon, for example, on one of these lines. Also on the picture shown is the Golden Spiral. Rather than the static thirds this spiral traces out a dynamic path for the eye to move through the picture, finishing on one of the hot-spots. Does your eye get led into the picture along the spiral? In this case the line between the sand and dunes forms the line, but more conventionally it could be a road, track, fence or wall. For images with less strong horizontal and verticals you could try fitting the image to the blue lines on the right. Note the right angle of the two blue lines, and how it is close to a hot-spot on the Rule of Thirds which is also included on the diagram.
Remember these templates can be mirrored and inversed to suit your image. Also the lines could be any feature on the image, or indeed they could be features from the foreground and background that happen to be in line.
Consider this final image, look at the red cross shown, formed by the mountains and cairn.
The general principle here is that there is a pleasure in order and symmetry, even if this symmetry is made up of logically unconnected parts of the picture. They do however help lead you between the different parts of the picture. You can take this even further and try to echo the shape in the foreground (the cairn), with the shape in the background (the mountain in the top left hot-spot) which is highlighted in green. With KAP there is less of a concept of foreground and background, however the concept of echoing shapes from different parts of the image still applies.
Sun, Shade and Impossible Angles

The sun is the KAPers best friend, it accentuates height through casting shadows, and offering shading on vertical surfaces. The two shots shown have not been changed in any "photo package". They were taken less than 60 seconds apart. Try to ignore the better framing of the "sunny" shot, and note it's improved contrast and the 3D property that the strong winter shadow gives it. Try to keep the whole shadow in the frame, and if possible use the morning or evening light for long shadows and richer colours as shown here. Don't be frightened to shoot with the sun at 90o to the camera. With the more interesting angles directly into the sun it's difficult to control exposure. The use of gray graduated and polarising filters is even more unobtainable, c'est la vie. Make the most of what KAP does best - occupy the space between conventional photography and high altitude aerial photography.
The image on the right was taken perilously close to the tower, hence the perspective. A huge flag set against the slender shadow, which is slightly exaggerated by the ground falling away to the left - it's a pity the shadow of the top of the tower wasn't in shot. It is a general photography rule that you shouldn't cut shadows off the edge of the frame, but it's sometimes difficult to achieve. Take advantage of the incomprehensible human ability to recognise objects from above, and toy with the viewer. Note that horizontal close-ups of this tower don't work on their own, they could just be part of a bigger castle's ramparts. Show enough of a building to set it in context and set the camera's position in an unattainable space. If however you are working on a montage, then these shots can be used once the viewer has had the context set by other shots. Whilst talking about angles, a word about the horizon. Keeping it flat is difficult, but this can make all the difference. Although the horizon can be reset in the computer, gross errors result in severe loss as the picture is cropped back to square. With the horizon in shot, try not to break it with an occasional tree or building unless they are on the horizon.
Even images without the horizon visible there are no excuses, try to keep verticals vertical, unless the content of the picture is abstract and there is no natural sense of "up", e.g. the image is looking straight down.
Neat and Tidy

As well as trying not to cut shadows off at the edge of the shot, try not to have intrusions into the frame either. Keep the edges plain and simple, keep the areas of interest within the frame. In the example here the dry stone wall and gate bottom right is an unwelcome addition to the shot. Paths and roads can be used to lead you into the picture, but here the gate is a distraction.
Although turning the image by 180o would help the Tower shot on the left, the shadow is missing and in the original high resolution image you can see various KAP paraphernalia sitting on a brown bench to the left of the steps. Try to keep the shot tidy so don't leave things lying around! I didn't keep this image after the shoot. This leads us on to the question of whether the photographer should be in the picture, and what to do with the kite line if it's in shot. I have noted that whilst the photographer's shadow in shot is normally considered unforgivable, KAPers have a different attitude to having either the photographer / kite flyer, or kite line in shot. So I'd ask a question - do these things add to the image or not? The photographer / kite flyer being in shot isn't an issue if they add some interest or scale, normally they are far enough away to just look like another person. Remember if you do think you are in shot to look up as you take the picture. As I take the picture I'm normally squinting into the video downlink and appear as a hunched figure (like on the right here), however there is normally enough time to look up as you press the shutter, and look down after the picture is taken. So the picture on the right breaks all the rules, I've called it "Like father like son". It was the test shot at the entrance to the shoot site, you can see the kite and KAP material as well as the operator and his son both looking at video monitors before letting the kite rise.
Back to serious shots - I'm a lot less sure about the kite line being in frame. Does it distract from the picture, or destroy the illusion of the shot? In these cases I would electronically remove it. However if it adds to the image, or the game of "How did they do that?" then leave it in! So get out there and get flying, have some fun, make memorable pictures, and remember the golden rule: The difference between a good and bad photographer, is that the good photographer doesn't show you his bad pictures! James Gentles HOME PAGE October 2003 KAP HOME PAGE
Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here: http://www.gentles.info/KAP/Gallery/photo-technique.htm
e-Book on the Rule of Thirds
General Photography Resource, Articles and Reviews for the Amateur Photographer at Camera Hobby
Photography e-Book Chapter 15 - Rule of Thirds

The most oft-advised technique to good composition is to use the rule of thirds. There are two aspects to the rule of thirds and understanding how they work and interrelate is not difficult at all.
The basic picture scene will have three major elements of:
I I I
1 - Foreground 2 - Middle-ground 3 - Background
These elements are self-explanatory and although they may seem more appropriate for a landscape image, they can still be used and applied to other photos such as portraits or abstracts. Being aware of these three elements and how they should be positioned, isolated and enhanced will provide you with a basis to avoid the typical subject-centered image with a 50/50 split that many novices seem to do in the beginning. Yours truly has several of these types of images hiding away in a shoebox
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somewhere under the bed. The middle orientation probably has a lot to do with the central focusing sensor of cameras and people's tendency to lock focus and then just shoot. I do the Nikon Shuffle of locking focus on the subject and then recomposing the scene. If your camera allows you to remove auto focus start from the Shutter Release button, do it! This allows you to control when to AF or not and usually, the Shutter Release becomes an Exposure Lock button when pressed half way. You can focus on one subject yet meter for another, a great feature that more and more companies are copying from Canon.
The rule of thirds that most photographers will tend to think of is the viewfinder grid division into nine sections, as seen here. The central four points of the middle rectangle - outlined in red represent the key points of the composition and it is at one of these four points that you would place an important subject matter. This concept of the rule of thirds is so prevalent and accepted that some companies are offering cameras with auto focus points at the important grid sections as above. The Contax 1N is an example of such a camera. There seems to be something about the rule of thirds that seems to provide humans with a justright view of things. The rule of thirds can even be seen in the world of audio in which you have three main audio signals of treble, mid-range, and bass. Harry Pearson of the Absolute Sound Magazine is an advocate of the rule of thirds for speaker placement in which the listener is placed one-third of the way into the room and the so too are the speakers. It is a quick and dirty way of getting acceptable sound but not necessarily the best sound, from a given speaker and room combination.
The advocacy of the rule of thirds is good one to teach learning photographers but it should not be a rule written in stone. For once, you know and recognize the rule of thirds, you will find it everywhere and it holds the danger of being routine and unoriginal as a 50/50 scene split or centered subject. Be bold and experiment for every subject will have a composition that could focus in on it and that may or may not be the rule of thirds. Therefore, while the rule of thirds is a quick and dirty method of getting an acceptable composition, it may not be the best method for your subject. One of my favorite photographers is Richard Martin, a contributor to Canada's Photo Life magazine. He advises photographers to not become overly tied down to rules otherwise the photographer runs the danger of doing everything the same and never being able grow beyond those restrictions. I find myself using the rule of thirds quite often but each image is unique and you should try to see the scene from different angles and perspectives. You may find that a rule of thirds composition is not the way to do the shot. Reading through the National Geographic Photography Field Guide can be enlightening thanks to the photographer profiles within the book. Two of the best, Michael Yamashita and William Albert Allard, indicate that they shoot through hundreds of slides in order to get just the right shot to convey the message or idea they have in mind. William Albert Allard considers the film and camera to be a sketch pad for him to try many different ideas and approaches to photography. The message? Simple, take the rule of thirds composition but do not stop at one or two shots but take many images and thoroughly work the subject if it is worthy enough. Now of course we all do not have National Geographic expense accounts that allow us to shoot hundreds of rolls of film for a trip or outing, so cost can and will be a factor. A digital camera would make the experimentation process much easier to bear.
Take another look at the Grand Canyon shot with a rule of thirds grid imposed on it. I did not know about the rule of thirds when I took this shot in 1997 and the camera I used, the Nikon F70 did not have a grid screen in it - nor can it. The shot is full frame with no cropping. It would lend some credence to the notion that subconsciously, humans may see a scene a certain way and without any preconceived ideas of what is a "good" composition, they will gravitate towards those tendencies. You will notice that near the four middle points in the grid are some important elements to the scene.
G
The foreground rock mass is near the lower right point The middle ground diagonal line starts at the lower left point The middle ground plateau starts off near the top right point The background canyon area starts one-third of the way down from the top of the frame leaving the sky to occupy the top third The middle ground area occupies much of the lower third of the frame
I am not suggesting that this is a wonderful image, merely that we may all have natural rule of thirds tendencies.
Chapter 16 - Golden Ratio Previous Chapter 14 - Seeing Public Comments or Questions - Read Here All other correspondence send to edwin@camerahobby.com Copyright 1998-2004 Edwin Leong
Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here: http://www. camerahobby.com/Ebook-RuleThirds_Chapter15.htm
e-Book on the Golden Ratio
General Photography Resource, Articles and Reviews for the Amateur Photographer at Camera Hobby
Photography e-Book Chapter 16 - The Golden Ratio

Loosely related to the rule of thirds is the Golden Ratio also referenced to the Golden Rectangle. This is, as far as I am able to decipher from a layperson's perspective, a mathematical look at human aesthetics. Mathematicians seem to love to apply numbers to what seemingly could or should not have numbers applied to them but what do I know, as there are many geniuses out there seeking a single mathematical formula that would explain the nature of the universe and of life itself. Mathematicians have even come up with a formula for the human decision-making process, better known as Game Theory or the Zero Sum Gain. The Golden Ratio has purportedly been a profound influence since ancient times with Greeks utilizing the Golden Ratio in their buildings such as the Parthenon at the Temple of Athena on the Acropolis. During the Renaissance when European artists rediscovered the styles of the ancient world, the Golden Ratio was utilized for their sculptures and paintings. Leonardo da Vinci being the most prominent Renaissance artist known to have used the Golden Ratio for great works such as the Mona Lisa. The shape of the Golden Ratio in physical form is supposed to be considered very esthetically pleasing to humans. One of the most interesting graphic forms of the Golden Ratio is the nautilus shell and the way the shell starts from a central origin and then spirals outward around itself until it reaches the horn or opening of the shell where the cephalopod's head is located. The Bowers and Wilkins speaker company of Britain, better known as B&W, designed a reference speaker with the nautilus design and called itthe Nautilus. A most intriguing and apparently an excellent sounding speaker. The more traditional physical shape of the Golden Ratio is the golden rectangle. This rectangle is comprised of a square and one-half of another square that is the same dimension together, as seen below. It can be seen as another example of the rule of thirds as the rectangle can be comprised of three equally sized smaller rectangles. Technically, the golden rectangle is comprised of two parts that follow the Fibonacci sequence. 1,1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 etc. Each succeeding number after 1 is equal to the sum of the two preceding numbers. Add enough golden rectangles arranged a certain way and soon you will have the golden curve that spirals aournd like a nautilus shell. The Golden Mean or Phi and the Golden Ratio abound in nature and perhaps humanity has been genetically programmed to recognize the ratio as being pleasing. Flower petals and pinecones are two examples of spiral designs that use the Golden Ratio. Why this ratio of 1.618? This ratio provides the flower petals and leaves with maximum exposure to sunlight and allows rain drops to flow down to the root in the most effective manner. The sunflower positions its seeds in a Golden Ratio spiral because it is the most effective manner of having as many seeds in a given amount space possible and allowing them to remain un-crowded within that space.
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Below is a flower that one can still see a spiral pattern emerge from the middle buds.
Ancient Greeks were not the only ones who understood the Golden Ratio. Egyptians used the Golden Ratio for their pyramids and the layout of the three great pyramids of Giza use the curve of the Golden Ratio that is predominant in a nautilus shell. This is all heady stuff, especially for math idiots like me who can barely remember the multiplication table. I am sure I have offended the logical readers who actually know about this stuff with my most basic of descriptions for the Golden Ratio. What does this have to do with photography? Photography is a pursuit that can be many things to different people. If we look at photography as being an art form like painting (and really they are no different) then the artist must have at least a cursory understanding of artistic principles. Aesthetics, what is it and why is something considered aesthetic? Since it is naturally abundant, the Golden Ratio, once discovered, would obviously have profound influences on human art. Place a number of similar artifacts in a room and the one that adheres to the Golden Ratio is the one most people will choose as being the most pleasing. As humanity is a part of the natural world, it should hold that we ourselves could be some sort of derivative of the Golden Ratio in terms of the relationship of our limbs to the torso to the head. Understanding some of the basic technique can helps us understand why it is that we find something to be pleasing to the eye. However, I still believe that the majority of the photographer's development must be borne from experience rather than theory. It is not so much what we do right that teaches us but what we do wrong or do not know. As we attempt to correct the wrong or understand what is unknown, the process has more meaning and teaches us. If we do something correctly right away, there is less incentive to understand how we did it right, if we did it correct once we will do it again. Try to keep the conceit in check on those occasions when you hit all the right factors and create a special keeper photograph. Use it as the basis to inspire you to keep on producing high quality and creative work. There are some photographers who adhere strongly to mathematical or technical placement of the subject in the scene. I do not believe there is a need to be so strict and vigorous in composition, also because I would not even know how to use the Golden Ratio for my composition anyway. My opinion is that humans have the ability to "see" what is pleasing and what is not and the more you practice the craft the better you will develop your sense of seeing. Being rigid with your photography will reveal themselves soon enough.
We witness something and we feel compelled to explain it. We see a certain trend in how humans react to certain types of designs and try to explain that too. Sometimes it is better to look, feel, and experience rather than take cold numbers or equations to an idea or concept, especially when dealing with the creative process. Science and math have their place though for I would rather live in a house designed by a trained architect instead of an untrained artist, no matter how brilliant. Update September 1, 2001 - As I type this now, I have just watched The Learning Channel's (TLC) special on the human face, hosted by John Cleese of Monty Python fame. A short segment of the special dealt with a ratio, a certain 1.618 ratio in fact, otherwise known as the Golden Ratio. I mentioned above that the Golden Ratio is associated with what humans consider to be attractive and the TLC special made it very clear how this ratio pops up over and over again for the human body and face. Why are models considered so attractive and why is it that only certain girls are recruited to become models? The TLC special revealed that all of the top models and faces in general that are considered beautiful have an abundance of the 1.618 ratio. Take a measurement from you feet to your torso, then from your torso to the top of your head. The second measurement on an attrative body will be a ratio of 1.618 to the first measurement. Measure the width of your mouth at rest then measure the width of your nose, the ratio on an attractive face will be...1.618. The Golden Ratio pops up over and over again for what humans consider to be attrative and it is becoming more and more clear to me that it is a natural phenomenon so pervasive that Pythagoras called it a universal beauty so many thousands of years ago. Now the challenge is how to incorporate this universal ratio of beauty into our photography as artists. I am going to have to research the art of the Renaissance era to gain some more insight into how the masters of old saw and created. Reference page for more detailed and technical information on the Golden Ratio.
Chapter 17 - Perspective Previous Chapter 15 - Rule of Thirds Public Comments or Questions - Read Here All other correspondence send to edwin@camerahobby.com Copyright 1998-2004 Edwin Leong
Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here: http://www.camerahobby.com/Ebook-GoldenRatio_Chapter16.htm
Lessons in Composition for the Amateur Photographer

Version 2.3, Page 8: 2001 by Dale Cotton, all rights reserved
Lesson 3. Energy and Directed Attention (continued)

A time-honoured starting point for creating interesting compositions is done thus. Imagine that the area of your image is divided into nine equal portions by three evenly spaced vertical lines and three evenly spaced horizontal lines. One compositional formula is to arrange the major elements of your composition so that they fall either into any of the boxes created by this imaginary grid, or onto any of the intersections.
Figure 3e. Rule of Thirds Grid In Figure 3e we see that the tree trunk closely follows the right vertical, while the fence and grass follow the lower horizontal.
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Figure 3f. Rule of Thirds Grid 2 In Figure 3f we see that the horizon is roughly at the upper horizontal; the foreground reeds and grass shoulder follow are bounded by the lower horizontal; the grass shoulder also fills the lower right box, which is echoed by the leafy branch in the upper left. The rule of thirds is meant to foster pleasingly asymmetrical compositions; but, given we can place things on any grid line(s), we can have symmetry in thirds as well:
Figure 3g. Symmetry in Thirds If the underlying motivation for any composition is to engender dynamism (or at least to avoid lethargy), we can literally tune the level of energy by choosing our degree of asymmetry:
Figures 3h. Off-centre
Figures 3i and 3j. Variations Strangely, I'd say that the rule of thirds version (3j) is more serene and stable than dynamic. The pure symmetry version (3i) has plenty of energy, perhaps that of a ballerina poised on her toes, while perhaps erring on the side of being precious. But 3h, the slightly off-centre version, is the crop I chose for this image. To me there is a subtle tension in the slight asymmetry. It's not a matter of right and wrong, but of what works for you. Exercises for Lesson 3 Create a lines of attention map for this picture:
Figure 3k. Arapahoe Bristlecone 2001 by Norman Koren Do the same with some of your own pictures. Also with your own pictures try to find at least one that seems to work as a rule of thirds composition, whether horizontal or vertical. On page 1, referring to the picture of Frontispiece #1. Girl, Detroit 1966, I asked "Why is the young lady in the above picture not centered in the frame? Was there some reason to include the window?". Similarly, referring to Frontispiece #2. Twin Towers, 1999, I asked "Would you have put your own children off to one corner of the frame, putting the twin towers and ferry dock in the centre?". How would you answer these questions, now? Leave the comments, or discuss this article in our forum.
Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here: http://daystarvisions.com/ Docs/Tuts/Comp/pg8.html
Proportions: Golden Section or Golden Mean, Modulor, Square Root of Two, Theorie and Construction
Proportions: Theorie and Construction

Golden Section or Golden Mean, Modulor, Square Root of Two
golden section or golden mean Modulor square root of 2 comparisons applied proportions golden section links
The Golden Section or Golden Mean is derived with simple geometric constructions, its ratio expressed in numbers is, however, irrational ((Square root of five) - 1) : 2 = .618034 : 1 (= 1 : 1.618034).
Starting with the line that needs to be subdivided as the longer side, a rectangle of the proportion 2 : 1 (two squares) is constructed. The diagonal through the rectangle is drawn next. One of the short sides is subtracted from the diagonal by drawing an arc with that side as radius and a corner intersected by the diagonal as center. The intersection divides the diagonal into two segments. The longer of the segments is rotated onto the adjacent long side of the rectangle subdividing it so that the ratio of the shorter subdivision and the longer subdivision is the same as the ratio of the longer subdivision and the whole long side.
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The beauty of the golden section may be indicated by the fact that a golden section rectangle subdivides into a square and another, smaller golden section rectangle. This process can be continued ad infinitum, and similarly inversed by adding a square over the longer side of a golden section rectangle, thus establishing a proportional relationship over the entire imaginable scale of human artifacts.
In architecture the application of the golden section may afford the integration of the whole scope of a design from the site to the minutest detail. Charles Edouard Jeanneret, also known as Le Corbusier, develops two sequences of measurements ("blue" and "red" sequence) in his "Le Modulor". He takes the - assumed average size of a human, and subdivides and expands it, closely based on the golden section relationship. In the sequel to "Le Modulor", "MODULOR 2", Corbu describes how after development of the measurements Jose Luis Sert and other modern architects, and of course, he himself, applied them in designs. Reliefs depicting the scheme, usually in connection with an abstracted human, raising one arm to the 226 cm low ceiling, and resting the other hand on an 86 cm high desk (shown here in an early version, still hiding the lower hand), can be found on some of the buildings that Le Corbusier designed, for example on the Unit d'habitation in Berlin, and the units in Nantes-Rez and Marseilles, France. The culmination is probably the hand - dove of peace in Chandigarh, India, turning part of the icon of the Modulor into a monument of unrelentless modernist hope for the achievement of human betterment through better architecture . . . There is additional significance and deeper meaning to the golden section in combination of pentagons and pentagrams, I recommend reading up on that in Paul von Naredi-Rainer's "Architektur und Harmonie".
Clearly the golden section proportion is closely connected with the square, the most neutral rectangular proportion (1 : 1) imaginable. (The "Modulor" books are square!) Compared with other proportions, the golden section rectangle is relatively long. That creates a certain tension between golden section and square, which may contribute to the interest that this proportioning scheme can maintain (see Corbu's Modulor), especially when compared to schemes that use the square as only proportioning scheme (see O.M.U.). Now, does that constitute any understandable reason to connect golden mean proportioning inseparable with beauty? Without doubt: No. Because of the non-linear nature of the golden section, as clearly demonstrated in the Modulor derivations, it is possible to find some base length and some subdivisions close enough to the ratio of the golden section in anything that may be perceived as beautiful. But that may have to do with the underlying structuring into nonequal divisions that establish scale and generate more interest because of the increased amount of detail that is generated or that is cause of the inequal divisions.
Another proportioning system is the ratio of (Square root of 2) : 1. The simplicity of the derivation (square root of 2 is the diagonal through a square of side length 1) is paralleled by the ease of maintaining the proportion through division or multiplication of the proportioned rectangles. The sum of two rectangles of proportion (Square root of 2) : 1 long side by long side is (Square root of 2) : 2. Divided by the square root of two we arrive at 1 : (Square root of 2), the same ratio as the two rectangles that were added together, only with a change of orientation.
The prevalent paper formats in Germany are defined by the DIN 476 (DIN is the German Insitute for Standardization, comparable to ANSI in the U.S.A, ISO internationally, etc.). The sequence A of sizes is based on the ratio (Square root of 2) : 1. This of course means that pasting two DIN A pages together at their long sides yields the next larger DIN A formatted page. Similarly, cutting a DIN A page into halves by division of the longer side, yields two pages of the next smaller DIN A formatted page.
The advantage of sizing paper that way is self-evident, and without doubt XEROX would have preferred that kind of paper formatting over "letter" and "legal" format. (Ever wondered why for the longest time copying machines seemed to have 141% and 70% as zooming limits?) From the Golden Section to the (Square root of 2) : 1 ratio there is clearly a reduction in variation. While the Golden Section rectangle by definition includes a square and another Golden Section rectangle, i.e. in fact two different modules, or proportioning schemes, the (Square root of 2) : 1 ratio contains only itself, therefore, is by character closer to the square. The difference here is, that the former scheme is derived by subdivision into halves, while latter is subdivided into quarters. The scale steps in the latter scheme are larger (instead of 1.414 and 0.707 it is 2.0 and 0.5), meaning it is even less flexible.
A comparison of some of the most common proportions shows how little they differ. Of the proportions that are shown here, the letter format is the widest, and the golden section is the longest. 3 x 4 is the aspect ratio of the common TV, 5 x 7 is a popular photo print format, and the 35mm film format (24 x 35) is the basis for most photography.
The proportion of 3 x 4 has the additional significance that its diagonal is 5. (According to Pythagoras the sum of the squares over the kathetes equals the square over the hypotenuse, i.e. 9 + 16 = 25, with the square root of 25 being 5. qed)
(Purpose of proportioning schemes: Explanation of the perception of beauty?)
Volker Muller home page

Layout, compilation, and original ideas Copyright 1997-1998 by Volker Mller. All other trademarks and copyrights remain property of their respective holders. Comments about content mail to vmueller@worldnet.att.net
Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here: http:// home.att.net/~vmueller/prop/theo.html
Composition, Rule of Thirds, Golden Proportion, examples.
Composition
What follows is a discussion of the theory that leads to the rule of composition as it relates to works of art and photography. Even though called a "rule" it probably should be referred to as a "guideline", in that there will always be other creative considerations in mind. Nonetheless, it represents a terrific starting point in the creation process and forces the creator of the work of art to examine his subject in detail in relation to the other elements of the composition.
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What is composition? How does it relate to portraiture? Where is the subject placed? The Golden Proportion What is the "Rule of Thirds?" Why not place the subject in the center? How does this apply to 5x7 and 8x10 images? Show some practical examples.
Composition is simply defined as the organization of space. Just as musicians compose symphonies and interior designers arrange furnishings to please the senses, photographers compose pictures so that all of the visual elements of the image relate to each other in a harmonious fashion.
In portraiture it is the photographer's responsibility to organize the visual elements of the image such that the primary subject (normally the face) is the most dominant and visible feature.
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In a group photograph skill is required to insure that equal emphasis is placed on each subject so that one individual does not dominate the portrait.
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Sometimes a secondary point of interest (a prop, tool, toy,etc.) is an important element of the composition. These elements should be placed in a manner that relates it to the primary subject, but be subordinate to it.
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Primary and secondary elements of composition are arranged so that their relationship is naturally pleasing to the eye. Subject placement should not be arbitrarily made, but instead made so that its location relative to the sides and vertices of the frame provides a natural and pleasant means of viewing it. Determining that placement is based on a proportion that is inherent in nature itself, and one that would be universally recognized by any intelligent culture. The ancient Greek civilization studied shapes, patterns, and proportions that existed in the natural world around them and found that, from among them all, that the "Golden Proportion" was the most simple, beautiful, and perplexing of all. Found naturally in plant and animal form it led the Greeks to theorize that the same natural beauty existant in nature should be utilized in manmade creations (art, architecture, music, etc.) if they, too, were to be thought of as beautiful.
The Rule of Thirds is simply a generalization of the techniques used to locate saddle points within the photograph. Imagine dividing the interior of the camera's viewfinder into a Tic-Tac-Toe grid. The four points of intersection within the grid, called "saddle points", indicate the best possiblilities for subject placement that produces the most interesting and dynamic composition. It pleases us as viewers in an abstract sense because it forces us to recognize the "Golden Proportion" within the framework of the rectangle. In fact there are 4 such "saddle points" available within the rectangle. Either one of these may be utilized as the location of the primary subject. Any secondary elements of the image should be placed at another saddle point or on a diagonal line that exists between saddle points. The center of interest in an image is not in the center because placement of the subject there forces our eye to view it in an unnatural and uncomfortable manner. Note in the following illustration how the "Golden Proportion" is not utilized when the subject is in the center. The triangles formed within the rectangle are disproportionate to one another.
The same rules of composition apply to rectangles other than the golden rectangle. Even though 5x7 and 8x10 photographs are disproportional to each other the viewer's eye can be pleased if the subject is placed so that the interior of the image is divided into similar triangles. Look at the 5x7 and 8x10 representations, as well as the 11x14, that follow and notice how saddle points are determined in the same fashion.
It's a simple process that clearly indicates how to make proper subject placement. By thinking abstractly and drawing logical conclusions we are now able to relate this information to practical composition in portraiture. Each of the portraits that follow has a single individual as the subject. Notice that, whether vertical or horizontal, each image is composed so that the subject placement coincides with a saddle point.
Michael Minner Photo
Original article can be found here: http://www.michaelminnerphoto.com/01composition. htm
Golden Mean, Golden Rectangle, Golden Spiral
GOLDEN MEAN EXPLAINED AND ADAPTED

Finding a satisfactory format for a square canvas You will recall my explanation of how the 'golden mean' is constructed
I intend to use this golden rectangle as the basis for the major composition elements in my painting. First I will extend the diagonal of the original square to meet the extended vertical of the right side of the rectangle as shown in Fig 5
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From this point of intersection I draw a square that will encompass and center the original square (here shaded) as in Fig 6. Thus I have established the proportions of my smaller square within the larger.
Fig 7 what is the proportion of x to y? Realizing the shaded triangle is a right angled triangle whose hypotenuse is the square root of the sum of the other two sides
then ...
Fig 8 Since my canvas is 50" (126cm) square then after finding the center using my diagonals I measure approx 11" (27cm) to the right to find the vertical line and point 'B'.
Thus we have our square within a square. This, as you can see, is essentially the 'design' standard I used for the paintings shown below.
Fig 9 The 'Golden Rectangle' can be further divided into smaller 'golden rectangles' and arcs of circles added to make a 'Golden Spiral' similar to those you see in pine cones etc.
For the unfinished painting on the right a few more strategic secondary accents were aligned with these secondary golden rectangles. STUDENT ACTIVITY:Draw your own 'golden spiral' beginning with a unit (a-d = 6" or 250mm) and find out the proportions for a 'golden triangle'. Allow 40min.
Original article can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/advanced/golden_mean.htm
News Photos and Layout: Photography, the Golden Mean, and Geeky Coolness
News Photos and Layout

Photography, the Golden Mean, and Geeky Coolness
The "rule of thirds" dictates the placement of the focus of your photograph. Why? The rule should actually be called the "rule of the Golden Mean". Across cultures and history, designers such as artists and architects - and even composers and poets - have adopted the Golden Mean as a ratio that is pleasing to the human eye. Nobody is certain why, but a rectangle with sides in the ratio of 1:1.6180339887499... just seems to please the aesthetic sense of the human brain. Simply - it just looks good. The ratio of height to width of the rule of thirds is 1:2/3 (or 2/3:1, depending on whether your photo is oriented down or across). This gives a ratio of 1.5. This ratio, however, is only an approximation of the Golden Mean, which is why the rule of thirds seems to work so well: it is building an approximation of the Golden Mean within the boundaries of your photo. Almost mystically, the Golden Mean seems to be a naturally occurring number, like pi or e. The Fibonacci series of numbers starts with 0 and 1, then adds two numbers to produce the next in the series: 0 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 etc. Now, if you take successive ratios of consecutive numbers in the Fibonacci series, you get ratios that more and more closely approach the Golden Mean as you use higher and higher pairs of numbers. For this and other major number coolness, check out this Golden Mean Web site.
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Sample Photos
Leave space for your action:
Space implies action and stasis. The following two images are the same photograph, cropped and sized differently:
Make sure the photos are balanced. Both the photo above and below follow the rule of thirds, but only one is naturally balanced.
Sometimes, take that literally:
Most importantly, news photos have to tell a news story. What's going on here?
Original article can be found here: http://gonzo.concordia.ca/courses/202/class-notes/202-11.html
Golden Section and Rule of Thirds (Golden Mean, Golden Ratio, Golden Spiral, Golden Proportion, Golden Triangles).
Golden Section and Photography
Probably, you are here because you would like to know how to improve your photo technique, what is the Golden Mean, look at examples, read some articles or maybe use our on-line photoadjuster (I am still working on this, though). Yes, all the experienced photographers know the "golden" rules of composition and use them almost innately. But until you start to use these simple rules without thinking, you need to practice, think what is better, and read about these rules. I am not going to describe the mathematical basics of these rules because they are well-described in other places, but here you'll find some examples, links to those descriptions, as well as JavaScript which could help you.
Rule of Thirds or Golden Ratio

So, the first "golden" rule is the "Rule of Thirds" or "Golden Ratio". It affects the ratio (1:1.618) of a picture size, as well as the placement of the main subjects in the photo. This ratio is close to the 35mm ratio, so you don't need to change the size of the photo in most cases. But you need to consider the composition: main subject should lie on one of the four lines or four intersections (subject's eye for example). Truthfully speaking, these rules are not the same. Rule of Thirds is a simplified version of the Golden Mean.
Golden Triangles
Another rule is the "Golden Triangles". It's more convenient for photos with diagonal lines. There are three triangles with corresponding
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Golden Section and Rule of Thirds (Golden Mean, Golden Ratio, Golden Spiral, Golden Proportion, Golden Triangles).
shapes. Just roughly place three subjects with approximate equal sizes in these triangles and this rule would be kept.
Golden Spiral or Golden Rectangle

And one more rule is a "Golden Spiral" or "Golden Rectangle" (you'll see why it's a rectangle in the tools section). There should be something, leading the eye to the center of the composition. It could be a line or several subjects. This "something" could just be there without leading the eyes, but it would make its job. As you know, there is always an exception from the rule and all the rules created just to be broken ;-) So, you shouldn't stick to these rules all the time. Know the rule, break the rule, and use your natural aesthetic sense. Here you could find several other articles to help you understand the Golden mean. Leave the comments, or discuss this article in our forum.
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APOGEE PHOTO MAGAZINE: Creativity and the Rule of Thirds
Creativity and the Rule of Thirds

by Jim Altengarten, exposure36 Photography
For effective visual communication, your image must have both strength and clarity. The viewer can become bored with your image if either is lacking. This article examines the use of the Rule of Thirds to improve strength and clarity, as well as some additional ways to utilize the concept to allow more creativity in your images.
Design Principles
The term strength pertains to the ability of your image to attract the viewer's attention. You should remember that the average person viewing images has an attention span approximating that of a three-year-old child. If you're not able to gain attention immediately, your image will be discarded. Clarity refers to the ability of your image to maintain the viewer's interest. This is accomplished by allowing the viewer to explore the parts and subtleties of the image. You must provide a mechanism for the viewer's eye to use to examine all parts of the scene and return to the main focus. The viewer will abandon the image before examining the various parts and subtleties if the image lacks strength. Both strength and clarity must be present. In composition, there are several principles and elements available to enhance strength and clarity. While composing the image, the photographer becomes a chef who takes a certain number of ingredients and mixes them in just the right proportion to create a presentable dish. Initially, a photographer must determine which design principles are important for creating the image.
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Design elements include the following: Eye flow Dominant element Simplicity Balance Elements in the scene that guide the viewer's eye through the entire frame. Usually there is one main subject to the image. The subject may be either a single object, or a relationship. Only what is essential to the scene is included in the final image. It may be symmetric or asymmetric, subtle or obvious.
A second consideration is the application of design elements to create clarity in such familiar applications such as:
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Lines Shapes Patterns Textures Color (Tone)
Finally, there are photographic elements that add strength to the image. These elements include such aspects as:
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Format (portrait or landscape) Placement of the main elements Lens Selection Focusing Perspective
One method of creating strength in an image is to create focal points that draw the viewer's eye to that area. Focal points compel the viewer to look at them first. There are several techniques that create strong focal points. First, the photographer can isolate
the subject. Throwing everything in the scene out of focus except for the main subject is one example of this technique. The viewer's eye is attracted to whatever is sharp in the image. The viewer's eye generally will not remain very long in an area that is out of focus. However, when everything is in sharp focus, the image becomes cluttered and won't hold the viewer's attention. Having too many things to look at causes fatigue in the viewer's eye.
Having a contrast in tone or color between parts of the image is another method that creates a strong focal point. When you're dividing the image space by tone or color, it's important to examine how the division occurs. If the image is equally divided between two tones, the viewer becomes confused, because each portion of the image has equal weight. For example, consider the classic sunset image. If the horizon line is placed in the center of the frame, both the sky and water take up an equal amount of space. The viewer feels uneasy, because the photographer didn't provide any visual clues as to what is most important in the scene. This type of image lacks strength, and the viewer will quickly abandon it. One curative option is to lower the horizon, which places emphasis on the clouds in the sky. Raising the horizon places emphasis on the reflections in the water. Which is best? The photographer must decide whether the sky or water is more attractive. If the photographer can't decide and splits the frame equally, his/her indecisiveness will be apparent to the viewer. Placement of elements in the frame can also create focal points. Key placement questions to consider include what, how, and where to place elements in the scene. You should articulate what attracts you in the scene. That will dictate what to place in the final image. If the photographer can't articulate what causes his/her personal passion in a scene, passion won't come across to the viewer. How you place something in the image refers to whether the element is fully or partially visible. Showing the entire element increases the attentive values of that element. Partially showing the element decreases the emphasis on that element. When you want to stress the relationship between two elements in the scene, rather than the elements individually, place them partially out of the image or near the edges of the frame. Where to place the main elements in the image is the final consideration for attracting the viewer's attention. The Rule of Thirds is the most common method for determining where to place the main elements. It's based on the concept that the strength of an image improves when the main elements are placed at key locations away from the center of the frame.
We've been programmed to locate main elements in the center of the frame. Do you remember when you were a child, and the teacher told you to draw a red flower with your crayon? Where did you place it? You probably began in the center of the page. Why? There was lots of room there, so you could draw the entire flower. Your first camera was probably of the point-and-shoot variety. The only area that confirmed the subject was in focus was the focus point in the center of the camera lens. If you can determine focus in the center of your field of view, isn't it logical to place your subject there? The problem, of course, is that placing the subject in the center of the frame normally provides little interest for the viewer. The brain is logical. If the brain subconsciously expects to find something in the center of a picture, and it's located there, no excitement is generated. Placing the subject away from the center provides visual stimulation.
Rule of Thirds
Before talking about when it's permissible to break the Rule of Thirds, let's make sure that we understand how it works. Several schools of thought in ancient Greece searched for mathematical formulas for the perfect number, chord, etc. They also searched for perfect balance in their artwork. Renaissance architects and painters continued the search for perfection. They decided that the relationship of five to eight created such balance. Divide the length of the canvas (or picture frame) into eight parts, and at the fifth mark from the left, draw a line from top to bottom. Count five parts, starting from the opposite side, and do the same thing. Draw two lines in the same manner from the width of the frame, and the end result is figure 1 below. This is called the Golden Triangle
because it represents the perfect division of space. The points where the lines intersect are called power points. Placing your main subject at one of the power points gives it a high attentive value and adds strength to your image. If there's more than one main subject, placing each at a power point provides balance and strength. It's difficult to visually divide the viewfinder into eight equal parts. Therefore, it's easier to use the Rule of Thirds, which divides the viewfinder into three sections, both horizontally and vertically. As you can see from Figure 2 (at right), the Golden Mean is a tighter grouping than the Rule of Thirds. Both methods use the power point concept for placing the main subject(s).
The image below (the rose surrounded by baby's breath) demonstrates locating the subject according to the Rule of Thirds. The placement, as well as the color contrast, almost requires the viewer's eye to go to the rose first. After stopping at the rose, the eye is free to wander about the rest of the image to explore its content. Therefore, the image has both strength and clarity. Consider the Rule of Thirds to be the Guidelines of Thirds. If the main subject is always placed at one of four points in the frame, creativity suffers. There are many situations where using the Rule of Thirds will enhance the image. Other situations require more creativity, and that means bending or breaking this rule.
The Rule of Thirds discourages placing an important element in the center of the frame. However, there are two situations when a centrally placed element works effectively. The first situation arises when there's nothing else in the scene that competes with the main subject. If a flower is in sharp focus and everything else is out of focus, the viewer's eye will go to the flower--no matter where it's placed in the scene. Placing the flower in the center of the frame works, in this instance, because the flower is a complete subject on its own, and there are no other elements to compete with the flower. The other situation in which a centrally placed element works occurs when there's a strong sense of balance in the scene. Imagine the hub of a wooden wagon wheel. The hub can be placed in the center, because the radiating spokes suggest a strong balance within the scene. Placing a strong horizontal line in the center of the frame works only when one half of the scene is reflected in the other half. Notice that the image below has a strong horizontal line (tree line) in the center of the frame. The image works due to the strong sense of balance in the scene. In this case, placing the horizontal line anywhere else in the frame would degrade the image dramatically. As stated previously, placing the horizon in the center of the frame can confuse the viewer as to what's important. The underlying structure of the Rule of Thirds allows us to modify the location of the horizon to send a clear message to the viewer. The Rule of Thirds can be used to visually weight an image. Visual weight differs from physical weight. Light colors have less visual weight than dark colors when they fill approximately the same amount of space in the frame. Thus, a large mound of dark feathers appears heavier than a white rabbit of equal size. Also, an element that takes up more physical space in the frame has more visual weight than an element that uses less space. We can bottom weight an image by placing the top of our visually weighted element along the lower horizontal line of our Rule of Thirds grid. Locating the top of the element below the lower horizontal line places
gives it less emphasis. It's up to the photographer to determine how much emphasis should be placed on each element in the scene. The image below is an example of a bottom-weighted image. Placing the visual weight at the bottom of the image puts emphasis on the upper portions of the image. In the image to the left, it's really the interesting clouds that make the image. The mountains simply provide a sense of place. If the mountains were seen higher in the image, they would detract from the clouds. The image would change and not be as interesting.
We can also top-weight an image by placing it along the upper horizontal line in the Rule of Thirds grid. The two images below are both top-weighted. You probably get a different feel from each of them--even though they're both images of the Grand Tetons taken from the same tripod holes. The difference is that the image on the right has a stronger base. When you build a house, it needs to have a strong foundation to stand.
The same is true with an image. The Grand Tetons have a lot of visual weight. The viewer can easily determine that they are heavy. In contrast, the grassland in the foreground of each image doesn't represent weight. Top-weighting an image without a strong base makes the weighted object appear to be floating on a surface that won't support it. Therefore, the viewer senses something doesn't appear right in the image, even if s/he can't verbalize the problem. The above images are extreme examples. The
image on the above left has a weak base because the bottom of the mountains is too high. The image on the right represents moving the bottom of the mountain to an extremely low base. It sends a better message about the solid feel of the image. Probably the best location for the bottom of the mountain would be somewhere between both images. A weak base is especially obvious in top-weighted images involving water in the foreground. Unless there's some other foreground object, the viewer can feel uncomfortable with nothing but water supporting the mountain, city buildings, or other objects. Place a finger over the bottom third of the image to the left. When you cover the rocks in the foreground, do you get the feeling that the mountain is floating on the water? We know that mountains can't float, so the viewer may feel some negative tension from the image. In top-weighted images, the photographer must decide whether a top-weighted image is supported by the foreground and how much foreground to include. Although it's your decision, be aware of the concept of base and potential viewer reaction to the shot.
We used the horizontal grid lines of the Rule of Thirds to create either top or bottom weight in our image. The vertical grid lines can also be used; it's called side-weighting. The image below right is an example of using the left vertical line of the grid to locate the main element of the image. Notice that the small stream of water is placed along the other vertical line in the grid. Placing the main element closer to the edge puts less emphasis on that element. On some occasions, leaving part of the element out of the scene creates an emphasis on the relationship between that element and another element in the scene.
While the main element can be placed on either vertical line, care must be taken to avoid creating negative tension. If there's any action, or implied action, in the scene, the action should normally be located toward the center of the frame. For example, if the main element of the scene were a bicyclist, the bicycle would move from the edge of the frame toward the center. If the bicycle were located at either vertical line and appeared to move toward the closer edge of the frame, the viewer might wonder where the bicycle will go once it leaves the frame. This situation is called amputation, because the edge of
the frame cuts off the ability of the viewer to follow the anticipated action. Any implied action, such as a person looking out of the frame, can cause the same result. Counter culture placement of the subject is another way of increasing tension in a photo. In western culture, movement is generally left to right. That's how you're reading this page. If the movement in the scene is from right to left (even though it's moving toward the center), it can create negative tension for western viewers. The next set of three images shows a wolf looking in different directions. You'll probably receive a different feeling from each of the images--depending on the direction of the wolf's stare. Do any of the images give you a feeling of nervousness or curiosity?
Remember my earlier statement that rigidly following rules discourages creativity. There may be occasions when you want to add negative tension to a scene to create a certain mood. Intentionally creating a feeling of amputation can add mystery. Counter-cultural movement inserts a subtle tension that many people feel but can't verbalize. The question boils down to the photographer being able to say what's important in the scene, and then to create circumstances that will allow the viewer to receive the intended message. Thus far, we've discussed the Rule of Thirds as a basic model and expanded it into a creative approach for placing the main subject in the frame. The preceding suggestions will add strength and generate viewer attention to your images. The Golden Mean and Rule of Thirds provide a sense of order, balance, and beauty to the image. But is this all we want to say in photography? Using only the Rule of Thirds will eventually create monotonous, boring shots where placement is always the sameas regulated by the rule. To maintain viewer interest, you need variety, and that comes from creative placement. Let your creativity be your guide!
Jim Altengarten is the owner of exposure36 Photography that specializes in landscape photography, creative vision, and photographic education. Jim teaches classes every quarter at the Experimental College of the University of Washington. Topics include Basic and Intermediate Photography, Composition, Exposure, Macro Equipment, and the Canon EOS Camera System. He also teaches workshops at prime locations in the western United States--such as Death Valley, Yosemite, The Grand Tetons, and The Palouse wheat fields. Please check the exposure36 Photography website for information about classes and workshops < http://www.exposure36.com/>. Your questions or comments can be sent via e-mail to: info@exposure36.com or by phone (206-433-2996).
Apogee Photo and Apogee Photo Magazine are trademarks of Apogee Photo, Inc. Copyright 1995-2004. Apogee Photo, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here: http://www.apogeephoto.com/jan2002/altengarten. shtml
The Rule of Thirds and The Golden Mean
The Rule of Thirds

You can observe a lot by just looking around. ~ Yogi Berra
Avoid placing your subject in that center square, and you have followed the rule of thirds.
Rule of Thirds -- See Image Composition | The Rule of Thirds | David Friedman: http://www.ruleofthirds.com/ | What is it: http://www.ruleofthirds.com/what.html | 10 Photo Tips | The Rule of Thirds
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Too often, photographs have their subject placed smack in the middle, making the image look dull and uninteresting. A simple shift in composition can change all that. The Rule of Thirds is probably one of the cardinal rules of composition. Mentally divide your viewfinder or LCD screen into thirds, using two vertical and two horizontal lines to create nine smaller rectangles and four points where the lines intersect. It has been repeatedly shown that by placing objects over these intersections, a pleasing and balanced arrangement often results, whether the composition is horizontal or vertical. When an image's center of interest is placed at one of these intersections, balance in the picture can often be achieved by placing a secondary object (known as a "counterpoint") at the opposing intersection. As mentioned earlier, the "Rule of Thirds" is not a rule at all; it's a guideline, intended to help you when you are uncertain as to the placement of elements in a scene when you are framing the picture. By ignoring the rule, you may still have a great picture, depending on the content of the image and how well its elements are balanced. For example, if you want your viewer to ignore all other parts of your composition, then place your center of interest smack in the middle, like a bull's eye. The important thing is to note the reasons for object placement in your images. Knowing why you do something and what effect it will have leads to good composition.
Photo Copositon Tips | Golden Mean The Golden Mean is an old principle that was first used by painters and is quite difficult to apply when taking a photo. Painters have the benefit of starting with a blank canvas and penciling in an outlining pattern that they can paint over to ensure elements are in the relevant areas. Look at the diagram below that shows how the Golden Mean is derived. Placing elements within this frame creates an interesting balance in a photograph. It's made up of a series of squares that become increasingly smaller attached by a curve that spirals inwards like a snail's shell. Place the point of focus at the end of the spiral and other elements along the path your eye takes inwards following the spiral.
Photography Tips: http://photographytips.com/ | Kodak Tips for Photos | Topics | Composition | Kodak Lighting | Quality of Light | Natural Light | Direction of Light | Kodak Photo Stories | Great Pictures | Online Links | Kodak Cinematography | Industy Links | Students | Forum | Kodak Motion Pictures Site Map | On Campus | Photo Tips: http://jimages.com/tips.htm | -- Digital Photos and eMail |
Follow the rule of thirds. An easy way to compose off-center pictures is to imagine a tick-tack-toe board over your viewfinder. Avoid placing your subject in that center square, and you have followed the rule of thirds. Try to place your subject along one of the imaginary lines that divides your frame. Watch the horizon. Just as an off-center subject is usually best, so is an off-centerand straighthorizon line. Avoid cutting your picture in half by placing the horizon in the middle of the picture. To accent spaciousness, keep the horizon low in the picture. To suggest closeness, position the horizon high in your picture.
Select a camera angle where the natural lines of the scene lead the viewers' eyes into the picture and toward your main center of interest. You can find such a line in a road, a fence, even a shadow. Diagonal lines are dynamic; curved lines are flowing and graceful. You can often find the right line by moving around and choosing an appropriate angle.
A Al Jacobs: http://www.aljacobs.com/composition.htm | Amazon Tips | Apple 1997 course | Apogee: http://www.apogeephoto.com/ | Apogee: http://www.apogeephoto.com/mag1-6/mag2-3mf.shtml | Apogee: http://www.apogeephoto.com/jan2002/altengarten.shtml | informative
Birds of Oklahoma: http://www.birdsofoklahoma.net/ | Bruce Argyle: http://www.utahmountainbiking.com/photo/composit.htm | Composition: http://www.cybercollege.org/tvp022.htm | Compostion: http://www.internetcampus.com/comp_ex.htm | Cyber Collage: http://www.cybercollege.org/indexall.htm | Dale Lab: http://www.dalelbs.com/didukno2.html | Dave Price: http://www.palmettobayinc.com/photo_tutorials.html | David Price: http://www.palmettobayinc.com/PhotoTutorials/thirds.html | Digital Photo: http://ousd.k12.ca.us/~codypren/digi4a.html | thirds Digital Photo: http://ousd.k12.ca.us/~codypren/links.html | links Digital Photo: http://ousd.k12.ca.us/~codypren/digi8.html | photo links Digital Photo Lessons | Thirds | Gary Stanley: http://www.vividlight.com/articles/605.htm | Image Station Rule of Thirds | The Rule of Thirds, and any other rule you hear about photography can (and should) be broken and/or ignored
as you see fit. The Rule of Thirds is good to fall back on when you're mystified as to where to place an oak tree in relation to a picnic table. But sticking to rules can stifle your creativity, and it's important to consider when rules should be broken just as much as when they should be followed Jay Goodrich: http://www.gworksphotographic.com/tips/tip02.html | thirds Handcolor Thirds | Lee Frost UK: Composition | http://www.ukphotographics.co.uk/ | MAV Sony: http://www.mav-magazine.com/ | Compositon | MdDonald: http://www.photosafaris.com/CompositionsTen.asp | Megapixel: Thirds | Basics | Methart Rule of Thirds | Missouri: http://www.missouri.edu/~yoons/EDN323/class_W102.htm | Nature: http://nature.org/aboutus/ |
Photo Course: http://photographycourse.net/ | Photo Course: http://photographycourse.net/compose.htm | Photo Course: http://photographycourse.net/composetwo.htm | Photo Links: http://www.wildthingsphoto.com/fotoinf1.htm | Photo Migrations: http://www.photomigrations.com/articles/0209300.htm | Photo Migrations: http://www.photomigrations.com/links.htm | links Photo Zone: http://www.photozone.de/bindex4.html | Power Point | SCPHOTO | Santa Cruz HS Photography | Site Map | Lighting | SCPHOTO: http://www.scphoto.com/html/stgallery_17.html | thirds SCHPOTO: http://www.scphoto.com/html/links.html | links Sharon Watson: http://www.idfishnhunt.com/fstops9.htm | thirds Sharon Watson: Basics: http://www.idfishnhunt.com/fstops7.htm |
Genevieve Shiffier: http://ls.berkeley.edu/~shiffrar/photog/ |
Vivid Light: http://www.vividlight.com/ | Windows: better movies | Better Movies 1-8 | Coverage 1-9 |
Hidden Valley, California
House Centered In Photo
More foreground
Another Angle
Hidden Valley, California -- photos by JOHN LONGENECKER
Still Photography: Mark Edward Harris | The Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute A two-week residential school for teen filmmakers at Quartz Mountain OK Film 2003 Filmmakers | Our OK Film 2003 Information Directory | Here is our OK Film 2003 message board | OK Film 2003 site: http://okfilm2003.com/ | OK Arts Institute: http://www.okartinst.org/about.html | eMail: info@OKFilm2003.com |
JOHN LONGENECKER eMail: JL@OKFilm2003.com | Leave the comments, or discuss this article in our forum.
Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here: http://jl-site.com/Oklahoma/RuleofThirds.html
The Golden Mean - Fibonacci Series
The Golden Mean

I have always been fascinated by ancient mathematical rules and how they have been applied in design. The "golden rectangle" or "golden mean" is one such rule if you like, that has often sneaked its way into my design work - sometimes planned but more often than not it just seems to happen. Let me explain. The Golden Mean, just like PI (3.14) is another of those strange numbers that we seldom question and very often take for granted. This number is represented by the Greek letter PHI, but dissimilar to PI, the golden mean goes very much unnoticed in our everyday life in such things as buildings, plants and even in living creatures - yet we find these things strangely pleasing on the eye. This is the magical number 1.618. So how is this number found? An ancient mathematician by the name of Fibonacci discovered that if you start with the numbers 0 and 1 then add them together you get a new number - in this case 1. Easy enough but what if you add the last number and the new number together? You get another new number, 2(See figure below). Keep doing this and you will end up with a very very long list of unique numbers. This is known as the Fibonacci Series. 0,1 --> add them together gives new number 1 0,1,1 --> add the last two number together and new number is now 2 0,1,1,2 --> add last two numbers together and new number is now 3 0,1,1,2,3 --> add last two numbers together and new number is now 5 0,1,1,2,3,5 The series eventually grows like below into a series of unique numbers 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89,144, 233,377 to infinity and beyond! So what I hear you ask? Well, starting from zero and if you take any two SEQUENTIAL numbers and calculate the ratio between them then a very interesting
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pattern emerges below. 1,0 Ratio = 1 to 0 = 0 1,1 Ratio = 1 to 1 = 1 2,1 Ratio = 2 to 1 = 2 3,2 Ratio = 3 to 2 = 1.5 5,3 Ratio = 5 to 3 = 1.6666 8,5 Ratio = 8 to 5 = 1.6 13,8 Ratio = 13 to 8 = 1.625 21,13 Ratio = 21 to13 = 1.61538 34,21 Ratio = 34 to 21 = 1.61538 55,34 Ratio = 55 to 34 = 1.61764 89,55 Ratio = 89 to 55 = 1.6181 144,89 Ratio = 144 to 89 = 1.6179 If you keep going you will see that the decimal figure will revolve around the magic number 1.618. OK, I here you ask, but what is the point? Well lets look at the example of how the golden mean occurs in nature. Take a look at the diagram below. Notice that it is made up solely of squares, yet the overall image is a rectangle. This rectangle, if you measure it, has the magic ratio of 1.618. Also if you look at the curved lines within each of the squares you will notice that these are infact quarter circles, but, as a whole you would be forgiven for thinking that they look like the cross section of a sea shell. And you'd be right, for this is the same as the growth rate of the beautiful Nautilus Sea Shell - i.e. 1.618.
Another interesting phenomena of nature is the sunflower. If you count the spirals you will see that there are 55 with either 34 or 89 on either side going in an anti-clockwise direction.Check it and see.
(Photo -
Jeremy Merrifield at http://stock.d2.hu/)
The Mean Screen.
The golden mean can obviously be of huge benefit to designers when presenting new treatments to your clients. As we all know the client is always right and we have to go with their final say although sometimes we'd all like to think that they would accept some of our more illustrious designs. Consider however, the following...Whilst I was was watching TV a few years ago (I can't remember the programme but I do remember the subject), they were discussing an experiment to obtain the most pleasing size of TV screen. They made a number of various rectangular shaped TV screens with differing ratios and asked a large sample of people to state the best looking TV. The results were staggering and almost all of them preferred the TV with the ratio of 1.618. About a year ago, I bought a wide screen TV so I measured this and it has a viewing area with a ratio of 1.618 - check yours for size. Remembering the TV programme I thought I would put some design treatments to the test with my clients. I presented half of them with what they wanted and the other half with designs conforming to some form of the golden rectangle ratio. Each of the designs conforming to the ratio was accepted almost straight away and the client was pleased with the results.The others, well you know the story, 'can you change this', ' I don't like that' etc., etc. I thought there must be something in this so I reintroduced some of my less mainstream designs to clients who had rejected them but tweaked them to have ratios around the golden mean and some of them were preferred to the existing design. Yes the samples were small but weird stuff indeed.Whilst, I am not saying that this is the be all and end all of design, I am saying that it is worth giving a try. You never know, it may just save you time and effort. (If you want to read more about the golden mean and its considerations in design then try http://www.tcm.rmit.edu.au/notes/GoldenMean/golden1.htm)
Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here: http://designoverload.co.uk/goldenmean.html
Space-Figure-Ground: Rule of Thirds
Space, Figure, and Ground

...plus a few "rules" to tempt the unwary...
PDF version
This lesson started out as something rather specific: a description of a well-known compositional rule of thumb. I wasn't quite satisfied with the way it was originally written, though, and decided to try to get it more in line with the stated aims of this course: to learn to think compositionally. So, it turned into something rather different -- an essay on the fundamental elements of composition: figure, ground, and space.
The objective of this lesson is to introduce three fundamental elements in compositional thinking: division of space, figure, and ground, learn to use them to think and talk about pictures, and learn a simple method with which to apply them in your own photography.
What is space?
Space is a deceptively simple concept over which much ink has been spilt -- see, for example, Henri Lefebvre's influential Marxist monograph, The Production of Space. (My wife read it, and she wouldn't have put it under the notbored.org domain name; I haven't even tried.) In this case, we'll use "space" in a very simple, almost trivial sense. We'll define it simply as the flat surface delimited by the edges (or "frame") of a picture.
The fundamental challenge in creating any picture is filling that space. If it's done successfully -- that everything within the space has a reason for being there and a relation to the other things in it -- a good picture results. If it's done badly, that is, the things within the space appear random, disjointed, or chaotic, if there's a lot of space that doesn't appear to be doing anything, you get a bad picture. Of course, this doesn't mean that there shouldn't be any empty space in the frame -- in fact, quite often this "negative space" is precisely what makes the picture. The point is that everything in the frame should be there for a reason, whether the reason was actually intended by the photographer, or merely emerged out of the image afterwards (as we could see in many photos submitted for Lesson Zero).
So, the first commandment of composition could be written simply as:
Fill the frame.

We humans make sense of the world by dividing it conceptually. Nature is continuous: any classification we impose on it is at least to some degree arbitrary. Where does your hand end and your wrist start? On what day does winter end and spring begin? If you cut your hair, do you cut off a part of yourself?
When thinking of the space that constitutes a picture, such divisions are especially arbitrary, and can often be made in several ways. Yet the idea of division of space helps -- both in understanding and appreciation of other people's work, and in creating your own.
In a very real sense, composition is the division of space. When you pick up a blank piece of paper and start turning it into a picture, the moment your pen touches it, you have divided the space in it. First, to dot and not-dot, then to line and not-line, left-of-line and right-of-line, eventually, if you draw a closed curve, into inside and outside and -- maybe already -- into figure and ground. Of course, with a camera, the division of space can be an almost instantaneous event that happens at a shutter-press. This does not change the fundamental process: what preceded the shutter-press was the framing of the picture in the viewfinder. You as a photographer selected what to include and what to exclude; where the lines and areas and blocks of color and light and dark lie, that divide the black space of an unexposed frame turning it into a picture.
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Space-Figure-Ground: Rule of Thirds The next time you see a picture you like -- as a picture, not because of its subject matter -- look at it this way. How is the space in it used and divided? Is there "slop" in it -- areas that simply aren't interesting or don't add anything to the whole? Did the artist manage to "fill the frame?"
Fence and tracks in the snow, by alexo1.
Figure and Ground

We can often identify one specific type of division of space when looking at pictures: the division between figure and ground. These terms are best defined tautologically: ground is everything that is not figure, and figure is everything that is not ground. Of course, not all pictures with "artistic merit" (whatever this may mean) have an identifiable or unambiguous figure and ground, but surprisingly many do. In any case, the concepts are highly useful, again when thinking about other people's pictures, and when creating your own.
Apple core, by hinius. I think you can tell what I mean by figure and ground just by looking at the picture.
The relation between figure and ground (or figures and grounds, as the case may be) is one of the things that makes or breaks pictures. If the figure and ground have some sort of identifiable visual relation with each other, with some purpose (either instinctive or considered) in placing them in the relation they are, the picture is generally more effective than one where the relationship is disconnected or random.
For example, the typical holiday snapshot of your significant other standing in front of a monument is usually not photographically very exciting, because the background and foreground don't really meld or talk to one another; it's just a person and a scene, splat. That simple picture could be improved a great deal if you did something to create a connection between the figure and the ground -- for example, asked your significant other to lean against a piece of stonework and admire the monument. Now, she's a part of the scene rather than something disconnected from it.
Joanna herding sheep, by Petteri.
So, here we can derive another principle of composition -- although, being more specific, it's less universally applicable than the previous one:
Identify the figure and the ground, and create a relationship between them.
In the above snapshot, Joanna and the stubborn sheep constitute the "figure" I had in mind when shooting it, while the rest of the scene constitutes the "ground." The connection is created by Joanna's physical contact with the sheep, and the similarity of the sheep with the other sheep in the background -- and pulled together by the lucky chance of having a sheep mugging for the camera at top left just at the right moment.
But how to create that division into figure and ground, and re-connection as a relationship?
There are an infinite number of answers to that question, none of which are really "right" or "wrong." Generally, it's a good idea to start with the subject, and make that the figure. If this doesn't work out -- for example, the subject you're really interested in is too big to be a figure -- you might want to choose to make your subject the ground instead, and look for something more or less random to be the figure: we'll return to this theme later in the course... I think.
The connection could be thematic, based on color or color contrast, the creative use of depth of field, based on form or texture or tone, based on the line of sight (people are great at following lines of sight -- that's why having your model look at the beautiful scenery works so well in tying it together), or, well, pretty much anything really. Sometimes the connections are pre-existing and only need to be recognized; at other times, they can be "engineered" in -- either by changing something in the scene, or simply by changing your point of view, framing, or something else.
A few dos and don'ts

Moving on -- to the ever more specific, ever more controversial, and ever less universally applicable. Let's have a few things that have generally been discovered to either work (or not) in figure-ground juxtapositions. Here, note especially that these are guidelines, not rules: sometimes breaking them may create a more effective picture than following them, but I can't see there being any harm in knowing to look out for them.
Decide what's your figure and what's the ground. If you're taking a picture of your significant other by the Notre Dame of Paris, you should decide which you're going to
Space-Figure-Ground: Rule of Thirds emphasize. By including both at the same "weight," the cathedral and the person will be competing for status as the figure, which will probably not work... unless you manage to create that connection or juxtaposition between them. Put something in the foreground. Pictures with a sense of depth to them tend to be more compelling than ones that look "flat." Even if what you're really interested in is the beautiful view, the picture will very likely be much more powerful if you include something close by in it.
G
Avoid joins. The scene you're photographing is three-dimensional, but the picture will be a flat plane. This means that unless the picture contains strong visual cues about depth (something we'll talk about later), the figure and ground are easily melded together: what's intended as the ground looks like a part of the figure. The classic case is photographing a person in front of a palm tree, resulting in a picture where it looks like the tree is growing out of his head. At times, this might be just what you need -- but either way, look out for joins: if unintentional, they probably won't look great.
The Rule of Thirds

Finally, we're getting to the bit Ed hates: the Rule of Thirds. There's good reason to hate it, too -- first, because it's called a "rule" (which implies that there's some sort of punishment for breaking it), and second, because it's actually the dumbed-down version of a really beautiful, almost mystical property that crops up in art, nature, biology, mathematics, and other unusual places with surprising regularity. I'm talking about the Golden Section. If you're an experienced photographer familiar with the Rule of Thirds, skip the rest of this lesson and read up on the Golden Section instead -- there's a wealth of information available on it on the Internet as well as the local library.
Still, there's something to be said for the RoT: it's simple enough to be applied easily in hand-held photography, and it'll almost always result in a more interesting picture than the default non-composition of putting your subject bang in the middle of the frame at middle distance. (In fact, Kodak came up with it to help people get nicer snapshots.) It'll also force you to identify the figure and the ground, and think about how you can divide the rest of the space in the future picture -- even if you end up not applying it, just thinking about it may have come in useful. Personally, the RoT is something of a fallback "rule" for me: if no other way of composing a picture suggests itself to me, I figure hey, I can't go too badly wrong with the good ol' RoT.
One word of warning, though: don't ever mistake the RoT, or any compositional rule, for that matter, for a standard or photographic excellence. Many amateur "camera club" critics make this mistake -- I've even heard that some judge in a club competition knocked points off a picture because the subject was a few millimeters off the position prescribed by the RoT, and I remember a discussion on DPReview where some guy had RoT guides etched on his viewfinder so he could follow it more accurately. Sometimes critics deserve the reputation they have, although I don't think they're all bad.
What is the RoT?

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. There are many ways to apply it; in fact, so many that with hindsight you'll find it possible to apply it to many pictures that have already been taken, whether the photographer had the RoT in mind or not.
Subject positioning
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.
The RoT in division of space

Yet another idea is to compose the picture around the regions delimited by the lines, not by the lines or the intersections:
This picture would've been a lot nicer if it had had something or someone in the foreground. I should've waited until someone came by, but the weather was cold, wet, and miserable, and we were impatient.
Assignment
1. Pick a picture you like from the assignments submitted for the previous lesson -- not yours, but somebody else's. Discuss the division of space in it. Does it have an identifiable figure and ground, or several figures and grounds? Could it be possible to interpret what is the figure and what is the ground in more than one way? Do you think the photographer had some specific idea of the division of space in mind when s/he shot it? 2. Grab a camera like for the previous assignment. Identify a subject and study it and its surroundings. Use the subject as the figure and the surroundings as the ground. Create a connection or relationship between the figure and the ground. Shoot several variants, and present the one you like best. Discuss what you did, why, how you did it, and why you chose the variant that you did. 3. Extra credit: Create an abstraction. Read the appendix, and look up some of the abstract artists suggested in it. Take your time; shoot lots of variants. Think about how to create something interesting even if it isn't a picture of something: maybe it reminds you of something, evokes a memory or an emotion, just produces some kind of regular pattern, or maybe it's just that the colors are nice. If you find it helpful to use the Rule of Thirds or the Golden Section for your abstraction, by all means do so, but don't feel compelled to restrict yourself to these choices. Discuss why you created the abstraction the way you created it, what you were trying to achieve, and how well you think you achieved it. Oh, and don't worry if it's not quite as abstract as most of the stuff the artists in the appendix did -- even Malevich and the other Suprematists occasionally included some figurative stuff in their abstractions. The main point is that the picture shouldn't be primarily a picture of something; rather, the interest should lie in the way the space is divided in the picture itself.
Appendix: What is an abstraction?

An abstraction is something that's not readily identifiable as a picture "of" something. It's nonfigurative. Instead, it evokes associations and emotions by division of space in and of itself. However, most abstract artists didn't consider their work as something disconnected from "reality" -- on the contrary, they wanted their art to capture something more fundamental and "true" than mere pictorial representation. In fact, the very term "abstraction" implies the question -- abstraction of what?
Space-Figure-Ground: Rule of Thirds There's a famous abstract painting by the Ukrainian artist Kasimir Malevich, called "Black Square" (1913). On the face of it, it's the very epitome of abstract art -- just a black square painted carefully on a piece of white canvas. A bit of boring, pretentious, artistic snobbery, only to be appreciated by the initiated? Not at all.
"Black Square" snaps into a whole different focus if you know one thing, and you're told another.
1. Russian Orthodox homes have a corner of the room reserved for an ikon, and a place to burn tapers in front of it. The ikon representing the Christ is placed near the ceiling, looking down into the room. 2. Kasimir Malevich displayed "Black Square" in the corner of a room, near the ceiling, tilted to look down into it.
I still get a shock of "meaning" when I recall these two simple facts. The featureless black square is suddenly transformed into something of awesome power -- a challenge shouted out to nothing less than God! By usurping the space reserved for an ikon of the Christ, the Black Square becomes an ikon itself. This raises another question: of what is the black square an ikon? What does it represent? It is an abstraction -- of what?
The power of abstract art lies in the capacity of a "pure" division space to raise such associations. Whether these associations are inherent in the work of art or "brought to it" by the audience is, to my mind, irrelevant. The point is that it can be done: in order to convey something fundamental of a thing, you do not need to represent it; in fact, sometimes the most powerful way to convey an idea is by such means. The anti-religious propaganda posters and paintings in the Socialist Realist style, with their fat clerics, tangle-bearded monks, and triumphant laborers look trite and frankly silly next to the simple, arrogant statement of Malevich's Black Square.
For further inspiration, you might want to check out the works of Kasimir Malevich, Vasili Kandinsky, or Jackson Pollock, to name a few. Or you might want to look at the evolution of, say, Piet Mondrian from the figurative to the non-figurative.
Roof structure in an abandoned building on the Nahr Beirut, by Joanna S-S. There's nothing inherently interesting about the roof -- but I think the pattern the beams make, the light and dark, the flecks of blue, and even the feeling of motion imparted by the camera shake make the picture of the roof interesting to look at. It also evokes a strong emotion for me.
Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this article are Petteri Sulonen, 2002-. All rights reserved. Please contact the author if you wish to reproduce them. Any trademarks are property of their respective owners; their use is purely editorial and does not constitute an infringement. Petteri's Photo Lessons
Published with permission of the author. Original article can be found here: http://www.seittipaja.fi/data/Photography_lessons/Composition/ Lesson_1/_The_Rule_of_Thirds.html

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Photography Composition Articles: Golden Ratio, Rule of Thirds, Golden Mean, Golden Section.

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Photo Technique by James Gentles

Rule of Thirds by Edwin Leong

The Golden Ratio by Edwin Leong

Lessons in Composition for the Amateur Photographer by Dale Cotton

Proportions: Theorie and Construction by Volker Muller

Composition by Michael Minner

Finding a satisfactory format for a square canvas by John Hagan

Photography, the Golden Mean, and Geeky Coolness by Laurie Nyveen

Golden Section and Photography by Eugene Ilchenko

Creativity and the Rule of Thirds by Jim Altengarten

The Rule of Thirds by John Longenecker

The Golden Mean by Stuart Low

Space, Figure, and Ground Lesson by Petteri Sulonen

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Composition Basics lesson by Michael Fodor

Rule of Thirds lesson by Michael Fodor

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The Basics of Landscape Composition: Rule of Thirds, Golden Section.

The Basics of Landscape Composition

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The Basics of Landscape Composition: Rule of Thirds, Golden Section.

Balancing Your Painting:

How to Compose: Using a viewfinder

The Basics of Landscape Composition: Rule of Thirds, Golden Section.

The Law of the Golden Section

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The Basics of Landscape Composition: Rule of Thirds, Golden Section.

Just a few of many compositional possibilities:

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The Basics of Landscape Composition: Rule of Thirds, Golden Section.

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Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Technique

Kite Aerial Photography Photo Technique

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Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Technique

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Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Technique

Places and Patience

Frame and Line

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Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Technique

Sun, Shade and Impossible Angles

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Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Technique

Neat and Tidy

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Kite Aerial Photography: Photo Technique

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e-Book on the Rule of Thirds

Photography e-Book Chapter 15 - Rule of Thirds

1 - Foreground 2 - Middle-ground 3 - Background

e-Book on the Rule of Thirds

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e-Book on the Rule of Thirds

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e-Book on the Rule of Thirds

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e-Book on the Rule of Thirds

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e-Book on the Golden Ratio