The rule of thirds

Learning goal

You will be able to define the rule of thirds, which divides the frame into thirds across and down to make nine equal boxes. You will explain why a photo looks lively and balanced when you place the main subject on one of the four crossing points, decide which point to choose according to the direction the subject is looking or moving, balance the side left empty with a counterweight, and tell when putting the subject right in the middle is the stronger choice.

The question

Remember what you did when you photographed a friend. Most likely you placed them right in the middle of the screen. This is a very natural tendency: the focus mark is often in the middle, the eye finds the middle safe, and when the subject is in the middle we feel we haven't missed it. But when you look at these photos later, many of them look alike, static and a little lifeless.

Why shouldn't the subject always be in the middle? Because when you shift the subject a little away from the center, the eye starts to travel inside the photo: from the subject to the empty space, from the empty space back to the subject. In this lesson we will talk about the most common tool for guiding this shift, the rule of thirds, why it works and when it should be set aside.

Context

In the previous lesson you learned to choose your hero. Now you decide where to put that hero inside the rectangle. In Lesson 4.4 you turned on your phone's grid and used the nine boxes to keep the horizon level and check the edges. In this lesson the same lines do another job: choosing where the subject will stand.

The rule of thirds is older than photography. One of the earliest known uses of the name goes back to 1797, to "Remarks on Rural Scenery", a book on landscape painting written by the English engraver and painter John Thomas Smith. Smith said that dividing a picture roughly into one third and two thirds, instead of into two equal halves, gave a livelier result. Photographers adopted this idea because it offers a starting point that is easy to keep in mind while working fast. Although its name says "rule", it isn't a law but a tool.

Simple explanation

How do you apply the rule of thirds?

Divide the frame into three equal parts across and down, in your mind or with the grid on the screen. Nine equal boxes form, along with four points where the lines cross. The rule of thirds suggests placing the main subject on one of these four crossing points or on one of the lines. In a portrait, the eyes that carry the gaze sit on the upper line and the body on one of the side lines. In a landscape, the horizon runs not through the middle but through the upper or lower horizontal line. If you are photographing an object, for example a cup on a table, you put it on one intersection point.

Which line you put the horizon on depends on which half of the photo tells more. If there are clouds or sunset colors in the sky, you lower the horizon to the bottom line and give the sky two thirds of the room. If the sky is plain white and empty, and the interesting part is the land or the sea, you raise the horizon to the upper line and make room below. The decision rests again on the question from Lesson 6.2: what is this photo about?

Why does movement arise when the subject is shifted?

When the subject is right in the middle, the photo builds a symmetrical balance: its two sides are equal, and the eye comes to the center and stays there. This is a calm, steady feeling. When the subject shifts to a crossing point, the balance doesn't break but changes; the two sides are no longer equal. On one side is the subject, on the other is empty space, and the eye travels back and forth between the two. It is this back and forth that gives a photo a sense of movement.

Which crossing point to choose is often told by the subject itself. If a person is looking or walking in one direction, you leave space in front of them, that is, in the direction they are looking or going. This is called lead room. When you put a face looking right on the left crossing point, its gaze flows into the frame. When you push the same face against the right edge, its gaze hits the outside of the frame and the photo looks cramped; sometimes this cramped feeling is chosen on purpose, to tell of an escape or a tension.

How do you balance the side left empty?

When the subject shifts to one side, the other side can feel light. The way to balance this is to put a small counterweight in the opposite corner. A person standing on the lower left crossing point can be balanced by a distant tree, a tower or a bright cloud on the upper right crossing point. The idea of visual weight from Lesson 2.2 works like a scale here: the big subject in one pan, the small but noticeable counterweight in the other.

The tone of the empty space is also linked to skin tone. When you shift the subject to the edge, a large part of the frame is left to the background. If this empty space is a bright sky or a white wall, a dark-skinned face can become the element with the least visual weight in the frame, and the eye escapes to the bright emptiness. Turning the empty side into a mid or dark background, for example a tree's shade instead of the sky, keeps the weight of the face. A light-skinned face, on the other hand, can merge with the empty space in front of a white wall; there you need to look for a difference in tone that separates the face from the background.

When should the subject stand in the middle?

The rule of thirds is a starting tool, and it doesn't suit every scene. A symmetrical structure, for example the courtyard of a mosque, a corridor or a bridge reflected in water, reaches its strongest when the subject is right in the middle. A face looking straight at the camera confronts the viewer directly when it stands in the center, and this confrontation is a storytelling tool. A central composition is the right choice when you want to tell of stillness, seriousness or order. The strength of a subject in the middle comes from everything around it being spread equally to both sides; if there is an extra element on one side, the symmetry breaks and the center looks undecided. That is why, when building a central frame, you need to check the edges once more and make sure the two sides really mirror each other. The real habit is this: when you put the subject in the middle, do it knowingly, not by default.

Visual evidence

Imagine photographing a young woman riding a bicycle on a coastal road twice in the late afternoon. First you put her right in the middle of the frame. The horizon also runs right through the middle and divides the frame into two equal halves: above, a pale sky; below, the road and the sea. The woman is moving to the right, but there is equal space in front of her and behind her; the photo shows her as if she has stopped on the road. The eye comes to the middle and stays there.

Then you slide a little to the right and shoot again. The woman is now on the lower left crossing point, and in front of her is a wide space of road and sea stretching to the right. The horizon has risen to the upper horizontal line; the road and the shining sea fill two thirds of the frame. On the upper right crossing point, in the distance, stands a small white lighthouse. The eye starts from the woman, follows the road in the direction she is going, rests on the lighthouse and returns to the woman. The woman's brown face falls not against the bright surface of the sea behind her but against the dark rocks at the side of the road, and it stands out clearly from the background. The same woman, the same road, the same evening; only the placement changed, and the photo went from standing still to going.

Common mistakes

Summary

The rule of thirds suggests dividing the frame into nine equal parts and placing the main subject on one of the four crossing points, and it gives a photo movement and balance through the eye traveling back and forth between subject and space. The direction the subject is looking decides which point you choose, and you balance the empty side with a counterweight and with a tone that separates the face from the background; in scenes that tell of symmetry or confrontation, you put the subject in the middle knowingly.

Mini assignment

Day three of the project: placement trials for "30 Photos in 30 Days".

1. Turn on your phone's grid and find a subject looking or walking in one direction: a person, a cat, a cyclist.
2. Photograph the subject first right in the middle, then on a crossing point, leaving space in the direction it is looking.
3. While photographing a landscape or an open area, put the horizon once on the lower and once on the upper horizontal line.
4. Find a symmetrical scene and photograph it knowingly with a central composition; under the four frames, write which you chose and why.

Check yourself

• In the frame with the crossing point, does the eye travel back and forth between subject and space?
• Were you able to leave the lead room in the direction the subject is looking or going?
• Can you explain that you chose the middle in the central frame knowingly, not by default?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. In the rule of thirds, where is the main subject placed?

• A) Always right in the middle of the frame
• B) On the very bottom edge of the frame
• C) On the crossing points of the lines dividing the frame, or on the lines
• D) Outside the frame

2. Putting a face looking right on which crossing point makes its gaze flow into the frame?

• A) On one of the left crossing points
• B) Somewhere against the right edge
• C) Right in the middle of the frame
• D) In the middle of the bottom edge

3. If there are colorful clouds in the sky, which line can the horizon be placed on?

• A) Right in the middle
• B) On the lower horizontal line, leaving two thirds for the sky
• C) On the upper horizontal line, shrinking the sky
• D) On the very top edge of the frame

4. In a symmetrical scene such as a corridor or a bridge reflected in water, which choice can be stronger?

• A) Pushing the subject into a corner
• B) Keeping the horizon tilted
• C) Adding a second subject as a counterweight
• D) Putting the subject in the center knowingly

Answers

1. C — The rule of thirds suggests placing the main subject on the crossings of the lines that divide the frame into nine, or on the lines themselves.
2. A — A face standing on the left crossing and looking right has space in front of it; its gaze flows into the frame instead of hitting the edge.
3. B — If the part that tells the story is the sky, lowering the horizon to the bottom line and giving the sky more room guides the gaze there.
4. D — Symmetry reaches its strongest in the center; putting the subject in the middle knowingly tells of order and calm.

Summary card

• Divide the frame into nine; put the subject on a crossing point.
• When the subject shifts, the eye travels back and forth between subject and space.
• Leave the space in the direction the subject is looking or going.
• Balance the empty side with a small counterweight and a tone that sets off the face.
• For symmetry and confrontation, choose the middle knowingly.

Bridge to the next lesson

You have learned to put the subject in the right place in the frame; but a subject in the right place can still be spoiled by a pole behind it or a busy background. In a portrait, not noticing a pole that seems to grow out of the person's head is very common. The next lesson talks about how to avoid the pole growing out of a head, how to keep unnecessary things out of the frame, and how a single step to the side solves most problems.