Rule of thirds

Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is a composition technique, it is important because it produces images that are more engaging and better balanced.


As you can see in this example the wings of the butterfly are directly on the vertical line and the branch seems to roughly follow the top horizontal line.



It is when you mentally divide up your image (or use a camera with a grid) into 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines.
Then you would try and place the main subject matter to where these lines meet.
The intention of having an off centred composition is that it's more pleasing tot he eye and will enable the viewers to interact with it more naturally.










It also encourages the photographer to make creative use of negative space.