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I've been told about the rule of thirds in past critiques of my photos, and it makes sense to me. However, I have seen what appear to be a lot of good photos that to my untrained eye might break the rule of thirds. So - when is it OK to break the rule of thirds? Is it ever OK to break the rule of thirds?

Thanks!

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The rules of thirds can be difficult to break sometimes, as this type of composition helps give a pleasing visual image to the eye. However, a simple example where it could be broken is when a flower macro has been dead-centered and the composition is symetrical. In addition the flower would have to some have some sort of pictural interest in either, or all of, the shapes, colours, textures etc before the image would be pleasing to the eye.

Hope this helps.

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Kind regards
Stephen

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The rule of thirds is a pretty good rule to base your work on. But don't be afraid to break it if you think doing so will give you a better picture. Photography is creative and an art form and as such needs freedom of expression just as painting does. If you always toe the line, you never make any progress.

Here's what Ansel Adams had to say abouit rules.
"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. "

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for the input from you both. It was a big help!

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I'd agree; the rules are there to be broken --- and there are times when the rule of thirds is restrictive. The joy of digital is you can shoot away and learn what works.

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The Rule of Thirds is really just one kind of compositional "rule." There are other ways to make a composition within the frame more interesting or eye appealing.
Leading Lines, Diagonals, the Golden Mean, even Centered images can work effectively. It's all about how the eye moves around an image, and finding a balance between areas of different "weight."
In other words, it either works or it doesn't....there is no set rules.

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So, Emily, I hope you're a bit more clear about the famous "rule of thirds". I think TampaDan has said it best. If art were to be constrained by a set of unbreakable rules we'd have no paintings by Monet. Imagine that.

Keep on shooting and observing....that how you learn and how your help to train your eye, although some people have a better eye than others most folks can take a pretty good picture if they really pay attention to what's inside the frame.

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Hi Emily,
Thought you might find this link interesting,
Cheers, Mary

http://photoinf.com/

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Mary, what a good source of sources you have there - helpful to anyone. I'm going to ask my libary to get a couple for me.

Ansel Adams, who had a grand sense of humor and never took himself too seriously, also said
"the secret of good photography is knowing where to stand." He meant it tongue in cheek I think, yet there's some basic truth to it. We sometimes get too serious in the photo contest in my opinion (and I include myself in that) and should remember laugh at ourselves a little.

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Thank you to you all for the information, and especially to Mary for that great resource! I have not gotten in-depth with that website yet but have bookmarked plan to read some of the material later. I really appreciate your help.

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Glad you like the link Emily and Sheila

My son, who teaches professional photography was quite miffed LOL. He reckons his powerpoint presentations are better for his students. I laughed and asked him to hand them over to me !

Seriously that is a very nice site indeed, just remember you probably have a natural eye anyway, so do trust it,
All the best, Mary

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