Welcome to the new and improved GiiNii How To Photography Blog. From now on, we’ll be bringing you tips on photography and photo editing, as well as How To guides and Do It Yourself tips for all the photography tech out there, including some of GiiNii’s great digital photo frames.
To start everything off, I’d like to post the first in a series of Photography 101 guides. The point of my P101 series is to bring you some basic photography tips, which you can follow to achieve better shots. Let’s jump right in.
American South at sundown Photo: Andrew Nealon
Basic Composition and Cropping Lesson 1: The Rule of Thirds
Since the dawn of the camera, we have put up with piles of pictures. In your kitchen drawer, or in a box in the closet, you have stacks of old family photos. And now, on your computer’s hard drive, you have thousands of digital photos, few of which you ever look at. Isn’t it true? A choice few might make it as your desktop background, while a few more scroll slideshow-style on your favorite digital photo frame. But most of your photos just sit.
Most of the time, it’s because the photos don’t draw you in. They lack something that makes you say “Wow, I need to display this.” But I guarantee you, with just a little more work, almost all your photos can become shots you would want to put on display.
The easiest way to get this done is through composition — the art of creating an alluring photo. It’s a lot easier than it sounds.
When composing a photo, the photographer has two opportunities: the first while taking a picture and the second, while using a computer to touch up the photos.
When you line up a shot, try to use the most basic photography technique out there, the rule of thirds. A basic rule of thumb, the rule of thirds aims to break down an image into nine parts. When a photo follows the rule of thirds, we generally like what we see more than if the photo breaks the rule. Basically, you want to imagine four lines intersecting on your photos, cutting the image into thirds, like this:
As you can see, the image is cut into two sets of thirds. The above photo closely follows the rule of thirds, resulting in an appealing image. The shadowy hills occupy the lower third, the darkest part of the sky; the second third, and the the bright portion of the sky falls into the top third. Vertically, the image also fits the rule, with the cactus well centered in the right third, the aura of the sunset centered and the rest of the photo using the left third.
If you use this rule while shooting your pictures, you can count on a higher quality of photo to edit on the computer later.
It’s not to late for existing shots either. Your old photos can be touched up and cropped in a program like Photoshop, or any number of online photo editors, to follow the rule more closely.
For instance, this photo of a Kangaroo from the Columbus Zoo already follows the rule of thirds, with the grass/fence/sky and the fence/kangaroo/fence:
Photo: Andrew Nealon
However, it could be better. By cropping after the fact, we can get a much better, far more interesting picture, while still taking advantage of the rule:
Photo:Andrew Nealon
A tighter crop on the same image pulls focus to the subject, the kangaroo, while still keeping with the rule. It also cuts away a lot of information we didn’t need to see, giving the viewer a better image.
By sticking to the rule of thirds, you can be assured better photos. It’s simple aesthetics.
Go out and try it. And, when you do, share your results by posting links in the comments.
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