Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is a compositional rule which states the following:

The photographic frame should be divided into nine equal sectors with two horizontal and two vertical lines. The most important compositional element(s) of the photo should be located at an intercept. 

For the beginning photographer, that is a pretty technical definition. To put it in simpler terms, before you take your photo, you want to draw an imaginary "tic-tac-toe board" over your image. Then, you want to put the most important part of your subject on one of places where the lines intersect.

I don't know about you but I'm a visual learner. So here is an illustration:

© Nic Neufeld/Photo Basics

This photo of a horse and its driver at a political rally is an example of the use of the rule of thirds. The horse's face is under an intercept (two, in fact) and its driver (though out of focus) is on another.

Fortunately for me, my camera's viewfinder can optionally display a grid over the image. 

This seems to be catching on even for a lot of point-and-shoot cameras. However, if yours doesn't, don't worry. As you can see from the example, putting things exactly on an intercept isn't the point. The point is to offset your subject. 

So here's what to take away from today's post: Don't frame your subject in the center. Knowing how and when to move your subject over will produce photos that will better direct your audience's eye; making the photo more interesting.

Go try it. 

Viewing at 100%

In my last post, I mentioned a term called "viewing at 100%."
As you likely guessed, it simply means looking at the photo really big.

100% is the actual physical size of the photograph and, with the megapixels cameras today are offering, actual size can be huge.

When you view a photo at 100%, you can figure out if your photo is sharp, if it has any artifacts or chromatic aberration. And don't worry, if you don't know what all those terms mean, I'll get to it.

To put it simply, viewing at 100% is the modern digital equivalent of the old light table and loupe.

Let's take a look at an example that we used in the last post.

As you can see, even though the first image looks pretty good, if you view it at 100%, the edges are rather soft. Because of this, I would consider this photo a reject.

So, make sure to view your photos at full size before deciding wether or not to use it.

Apple Aperture (what I use), for example, will zoom to 100% just by pushing the "Z" key. Other professional software also makes it easy to view at 100%. If your software doesn't, that's okay. Just make sure to zoom in and inspect your photo.

-Nic

Tripod. Or Else.

I suppose this counts as a "technical" post.

It's a very simple concept yet people try to avoid using it: the tripod.

Yes, it's annoying to carry around, it's annoying to take the time to put your camera on it but motion blur is even more annoying.

Using a good steady tripod, especially in situations with low light will always help your photography.

I'll go into motion blur more in the article I write about the shutter. For now,  just know that moving the camera when the shutter is open will cause motion blur just like if your subject moved. That means that putting your camera on your tripod will reduce or eliminate that.

Of course, there are places where you simply cannot bring or use a tripod. In these cases good alternatives are monopods (which have their own limitations) or bracing your camera against a solid surface like a wall, rail, table, or whatever happens to be available.


Now, one last thing to make you feel like you're back in the second grade: today's vocabulary word.
"Stabilization" or "support" are the broad terms for any device that steadies a camera. These include tripods, monopods, gorillapods (not a substitute for owning a good tripod), etc.


Let's take a quick look at what happens when you don't use a tripod.


This first photo is a bit of an easier example. Because the original is much smaller here than it is in real life, it's a bit tougher to see the motion blur but take a look at the 100% view below.


The edges are very soft from motion blur.

© Nic Neufeld/Photo Basics

© Nic Neufeld/Photo Basics

Here's a slightly less cut-and-dry example. It's a bit harder to say if it's a bad photo from looking at the whole image but again, when viewing at 100%, it's obvious that the edges are soft.

© Nic Neufeld/Photo Basics

© Nic Neufeld/Photo Basics

My point is, tripods are your friend.

At some point, I will post something going into depth about tripods themselves.

-Nic

About Photo Basics

Me.
© Nic Neufeld/Photo Basics

As a young photographer, I have spent countless hours on the internet attempting to understand certain aspects of photography and how they relate to one another.

Now that I'm a bit more mature as a photographer (though, make no mistake, I have a good long way to go), I want to publish my knowledge in such a way that newer photographers can understand the concepts that took me a lot of work to be able to use.

I'm going to start with the basics and try to alternate between creative lessons (like framing and angles) and technical lessons (like shutter and aperture).

I hope to make this a valuable resource. If you have questions or if I'm not being clear enough, please let me know.

Thanks!
-Nic