The Rules of PhotographyUnit 57: Photography and Photographic Practice Terminology

P1, P2, M1, M2

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Rule of thirdsThe rule of thirds is the most important element when your taking a picture. Photos are divided into thirds with two imaginary lines vertically and 2 lines horizontally making 3 columns, 3 rows and 9 sections in the image.

Important elements and leading lines are placed on or ear the imaginary lines and where the lines intersect.

The idea is that a off centre composition is more pleasing to the eye and looks more natural than one where the subject is placed right in the middle of the frame. Here are two examples of photographs that use the rule of theirs you can see that main focal point isn't always in the middle.

Examples of Rule of thirds

FramingFraming in photography plays a big part also. It is used to focus the viewers attention on the subject. It’s a technique used by all photographers. I a lot of framing photos a door or a hallway is usually added. Adding a frame can be done on a camera but also on Photoshop. You can physical and natural framing.

Here I gathered two examples of framing and they both have a different story to tell.

Leading Lines

Leading lines takes the viewers eye from the foreground the background of an image. This is usually used on images on a hallway a long round or something that attracts the viewers attention to the back of a photo. Here are two examples.

Balancing ElementsBalancing elements is a technique used in photography by balancing the weight of the subject including another object of a lesser importance to fill the space. They’re two types of balance, formal and informal. Formal balance is also called symmetrical balance where the same image is repeated more than once. Informal balance is where dissimilar images are used to balance one another out. Here we can see two examples.

Symmetry & Patterns

If we look around we are surrounded by natural and unnatural symmetry. They make very interesting compositions in photography especially in situations where they are not expected to. Another way in which you can use them is when you break the symmetry in some way which breaks the tension and a focal point in the scene. The two examples I have used uses symmetry and patterns.

Depth of FieldThe depth of field in a photo is the distance between the closet and furthest object. This is usually in strong definition. The longer the focal length the more shallow the depth of field. There is also shallow depth of field which is a small section of a photograph which is focused upon while the rest is out of focus. These two images are my examples I have chosen.