can anyone tell me what the rule of thirds is exsist for?

H

hunter111

New member
i know its a pretty basic question

and im not sure this is the right forum
(if its not feel free redirect me)

i recently sompleted a crushed course in video shooting.

and they did talked about the rule of thirds how ever it did left me with one question...

why? i mean yes i understand why to use if you have a two shot

and two characters that need to be set in a place were they will be in the focus

of a well balanced shot.

or if you want to make someone looks weeke
or small
so putting him in the center is not a exactly serving the


but otherwise what other purpose this rule is serving?
 
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Rule of thirds is meant to help mentally visualize elements of your composition inside the frame. It is a way of seeing elements of your frame as discrete parts of a whole.
 
hunter111 said:
i know its a pretty basic question

and im not sure this is the right forum
(if its not feel free redirect me)

i recently sompleted a crushed course in video shooting.

and they did talked about the rule of thirds how ever it did left me with one question...

why? i mean yes i understand why to use if you have a two shot

and two characters that need to be set in a place were they will be in the focus

of a well balanced shot.
Click to expand...

The the Thirds Rule is a specific statement of a general term of Visual Weight. This is what composition is all about. Visual Weight places elements that are important to the artist in certain places within the frame boundaries, to effect what the artist wants the viewer 'to do', which is look at the art work.

In the case of moving pictures, the visual weight can be far more dynamic than in a static painting, but the theory is the same... get the viewer to engage in the visual representation.

There is some amount of writing devoted to what placement of subject, various lines, etc, 'mean' in some sense, and this forms a visual language.

Like any other language there are some core 'phrases', and 3rd is one such. 'centered subject' another, in the case of people eyelines also make for a language element.

Just as one does when one is acquiring one's first language there are many basics that one does repetitively until they become internalized. Often for a second language there's an abbreviated process, and so one may not learn the idioms as well as one first language... and in some sense one needs to work on the second language much 'harder' to gain fluency than the first...

In the case of visual languages, most people have to work hard to gain fluency, and so, start taking pictures, stills, or now with the various mobile devices, moving pictures, daily, hourly, to learn the language.
 
It's more of a guideline than a rule. No one is going to punish you if you frame your shot with the subject right up against the edge looking away. But - you should know why a balanced frame is pleasing, and why you might choose to use an unbalanced frame.
 
hunter111 said:
i know its a pretty basic question

and im not sure this is the right forum
(if its not feel free redirect me)

i recently sompleted a crushed course in video shooting.

and they did talked about the rule of thirds how ever it did left me with one question...

why? i mean yes i understand why to use if you have a two shot

and two characters that need to be set in a place were they will be in the focus

of a well balanced shot.

or if you want to make someone looks weeke
or small
so putting him in the center is not a exactly serving the


but otherwise what other purpose this rule is serving?
Click to expand...

It's a guideline. If you're at the point at which you're questioning it, you're already way ahead of the pack and ready to forget it and shoot intuitively.

I am not yet close to that point.
 
The 'rules of composition' has to do with the way humans interpret visual information. Following these 'rules' is not a must but understanding them leads to greater artistic control as you can focus in, close off and in other ways play with the elements in your shot.
 
Policar said:
It's a guideline. If you're at the point at which you're questioning it, you're already way ahead of the pack and ready to forget it and shoot intuitively.

I am not yet close to that point.
Click to expand...

Even master artists use various grids like rule of thirds when they are beginning a painting to assist with balancing composition. I still find it useful for photographic composition after more than 40 years. In motion photography I find it particularly useful for planning beginning and end of shot compositions on moves. It is also valuable for match frame shot planning. Again it is not a dictatorial rule, but rather a mental way of seeing and thinking thru compositions with a greater depth of concious awareness.
 
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