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The Rule of Thirds is actually a guideline more than a. It is intended to help the photographer with the placement of the attraction and focal point within the composition. But, if you want your viewer to ignore the other parts of your painting, then go ahead break the advice and center your subject.
What is the correct way? Well for me that is a grey
area because I every image should be as the
"AUTHOR" wants it but there are several
"no, no's" which I in normal cases stick to but
it is up to you a frame or border can added if needed this is
a matter of choice, but please make it
suit.
This type of framing is ok for your home use or even on a web site you
own but not for competition or even a Facebook page where others
contribute.
Above on the left is a colour image of what appears to be an image filled with colourful sea, sky, house roofs and other objects the flag the composition meets with the rule of thirds rule however the image on the right is a washed out version of the same scene but it has the flag pole virtually on the left to right centre and a larger space of nearly empty sky also a little bit of the foreground rock is lost and remember what I sad about the frame.
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The Rule of Thirds is actually a guideline more than a rule. It is intended to help the artist with the placement of the elements and focal point within the composition. But, if you want your viewer to ignore the other parts of your painting, then go ahead break a rule and center your subject like a big bull's-eye
To me since the advent of the digital
age and with no separate film or chemicals being needed to
create B&W images everyone tries it out and few realize the
requirements of a good B&W print.
Below on the left is a scanned
image not really a great copy as the small print I used for
the scanning is not as good as the original however the
original won awards in several salons I like it for the
lighting and the strong blacks Black and white is not just a
case of clicking a button in your computer it is a whole new
ball game and I envy those old timers who actually did
know take strong or misty images. Note in the female portrait below on
the right which even though it is B&W it has skin tone etc. again a copy of a print
If you are in any doubt make a copy of your image in your editing
programme and draw three vertical and three horizontal lines on it and
the main subject should be near the intersection of at least one of the
third lines, in this case you can see that both the main boat and the
smaller one are on intersecting lines. The bottom boat attracts your
attention and the top one along with the dark land mass serves to keep
you in
I am all for the use of frames even transparent ones but make sure you do not cut of your subjects head when using one.
Above is a scanned image from Minolta Mirror a magazine
published by Minolta, this was from the 1979 issue and the
same rules apply today keep it soft and towards the high-key
end for this style of photography, the two images shown below
are too low-key with shadows marring the models
back. Bright colours can work but only if you know what
you are doing as Rob Owen certainly did. The head cut
off and the swirls etc. just do not in my and most other
photographers opinions work.
If it is a lady you are photographing try and light it more
softly and do away with the muscular toned back.
......... You may need to view these at their larger
size or zoom into to them to see what I am talking
about
Below another black and white this time in a rather
unconventional frame, I consider this to be OK however there are
some for want if a better word "Prudes" who don't like it
to be truthful
they do not even like frames
Above a straight photo or at least under
my definition of straight, this one was taken at the now disused Trim
Park in Uitenhage originally a B&W Print with a conventional straight
white border, in real life I mounted this using a grey matt and framed
it but for this page I have changed the perspective of it and for me it
works. Photographs do not need to be just as "out of the camera"
frame the if you want heck even let them BURST OUT of the frame or border
like the coloured one below.
.
Above another "straight photo" taken at Redhill in Uitenhage when there was
racing there on a regular basis. I think the bike was going too
fast to be constrained by a frame. Again a scanned copy of a small copy
of the original the quality is just not there as this won 5 certificates
of merit or "honorary mention" at salons and only lost out for a sixth
one at my home clubs' salon because of a "prude" who did not even like
Motor Bikes.
I have put these images on to show my choice of
photographs to frame and which I have left as is.
Above a straight photo well if you accept that I added a frame to it permissible as straight It is a sunrise shot taken from my back garden on a day when I had never seen such a combination of angry looking clouds and strong winds, normally when we get lovely red sunrises it is on a calm day possible cause was it was also the day that the fires were burning both in Knysna and Port Elizabeth Taken in June 2017
Above this is a completely straight picture because apart from being signed the only other thing done to it was perhaps a little colour or exposure correction of course I may have cropped it a little too, Notice the Mime is in the middle of the image this was necessary as there were unsightly objects on either side. I think on of the reasons it works is because the verticals of the window break it into thirds
............ taken in 2016
Above again this is an old image originally on print negative film any modification was done in the darkroom but I can assure you it was very little. . Knysna Lagoon is a fantastic place to get photographs I have used coding on the web page to put a border round this image but the photo its self has only a grey and black line around it will appear slightly differently in different browsers should look like this but Internet Explorer will make the edges square. Firefox and Opera will give the rounded edges I intended Update since making this page explorer is now showing round corners but in case any other browser does not this is what it should look like
I am classifying this as straight because although the resulting image that I took was a bit lighter than this if I had taken my own advice and bracketed I would have had an exposure to match this. I had to enrich the colours but only ever so slightly
On the first page I included a picture of a sunrise so to finish off here is one of a sunset
Below in creative photography I always advised people to bracket their exposures as far as light is concerned but making use of the zoom function also helps
Information Other Pages on the site include
information
Boats,
Cars, Composites,
Examples,
Flowers, high or low key.
Landscapes,
Manipulation,
More examples,
Multiple images,
Nature,
Portraits
Sliding images, Straight,
Surreal
Rules, Windows and the
page descriptions by Alex Cummings also
a site map
This page has been checked and given the all clear both for CSS and HTML 5 programming
Photographs and graphics are ©
& belong to Alex Cummings unless otherwise stated.
More photographs can be found on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/alex.cummings.1940/
or at https://plus.google.com/collection/ULgVRE
I would ask you to bear with me should you find any spelling or grammar errors I do try to check but some are bound to slip through
especially after editing a page.
