Thursday 19 April 2012

Friday My Town Shoot Out - Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds is a compositional tool that places the subject of the photo in an area of intersecting lines created by dividing the photo in 3rds horizontally and vertically.  If the subject is principally a line it should lie along the lines.  If it is a spot (like a bird's eye) it should lie within one of the circles.


I've not been out of doors this week so here are some samples (though few are perfect)  from around my brother's Outer Hebridean home last year.....











The above one is an interesting one because the subject is in the middle - the seaweed - but it has two distinct 'horizons' running along the thirds lines.

If you would like to see what other members of the gang have found for this Friday My Town Shoot-out please click on this FMTSO link.


23 comments:

  1. Lovely pictures. I wonder how many photographs of Isle of Lewis Sunsets there are? I must have a couple of hundred and you must have thousands - knowing how you take pictures! How many exactly have you got? Now there is a challenge!

    Come back soon and take some more. xx

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  2. Oh, I would so love to live in the Outer Hebrides. I know I would become a hermit and I would have to have a word with the Almighty about the temperatures especially in the winter. But I know I would never be bored, though I think I would have to have a dog and a couple of cats as well just for conversation. I certainly wouldn't miss TV, movies, supermarkets or shopping malls -- never mind the traffic!

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  3. Scriptor,
    Richard has tried to explain this rule of thirds to me, but I find it easier just to hand the camera over to him! I take better photos of people, but most people don't want to be on my blog. My typical luck!
    I love all these photos of yours. That blue paint on the fence post reminds me of the blue they used to use on the Eastbourne seafront, but now, they use a darker blue. I miss that blue.

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  4. Great job with the Rule of Thirds. I especially like the first one with the shell. Simple, but through its simplicity, it really drives home the point.

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  5. what a wonderful array of nature at her finest!

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  6. I like that seaweed, but I think my favorite might be the bird on the barbed wire fence. You take exquisite photos.

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  7. I love the different views of the sea, so beautiful! The view from them are breathtaking.

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  8. Spesh - challenge declined! I am too lazy to label most of my photos properly so I'd have to look through the 350,000 on the computer and then start on my prints and slides.
    Chris - there are TV and supermarkets on the Island but I suppose if you became a hermit you could avoid them. As for traffic - coming up behind four cars at one of the island's half dozen roundabouts is a 'major traffic jam'.
    Kay - so many people are anxcious about being photograohed that I now rarely even attempt it except with fsmily. Your Richard looks good on a photo so I'd just take more of him.
    Kerry - thanks but when you take as many as I do some of them are bound to come out well! It's a bit like giving Chimpanzeees typewriters and leaving them for decades - eventually one of them will type a Shakespeare play.

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  9. I love the one with the bird on the barbed wire, especially the angle at which you took it. But they are all great pictures, no matter how thirdish (borrowing the expression from Mark at Bagman & Butler) they are.

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  10. That sunset has got to be as "spot on" as it gets ;)
    And they're all lovely reminders of the views of Lewis that have come to be so familiar to me through you and GB even though I've never actually been there (sometimes I almost feel like I have).

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  11. The seaweed is such an evocative photo, having been born and still living in my coastal town it brings waves (sorry for the pun) of senses to me. I can smell the salt in the air and the damp feel of the sea on my skin as I walk along the seafront. Thanks for that.

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  12. I agree with Meike that these are wonderful photos. I particularly liked the sunset, the bird on the wire, and the yellow iris. Such an interesting variety of photos.

    xoxo

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  13. Oh my - you are clearly a very thirdsy shooter with great results. The fence shots get me -- well, all of them do.

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  14. I found the last one very instructional. I would not have understood unless you had explained. Now I will be more aware of what I am shooting and after all that is the point. Great post.
    QMM

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  15. Really nice shots. The shell and bird are really beautiful captures and you've used the rule of thirds to make them even more interesting.

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  16. Very well placed subjects and some beautiful landscapes. I really like the bird on a wire and the sunset sillhouette.

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  17. These photos are awesome! Looking at the photos I know more of the rule of thirds. ^_^

    FMTSO

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  18. Lewis has once again provided the inspiration but you applied the execution of the rule perfectly, each shot could be in a text book. Love the simplicity (and impact) of the snail and bird on a wire shots.

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  19. I cropped, in deed, the cropped photo looks better.

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  20. great shots all, and good examples of the 'thirds' - what do you mean not perfect.... how do YOU define perfection. My mountain and sea shots are often like you seaweed, framing the subject with sky and sand or clouds and tree. I had to go back and look again to try and pick a fav.... like the bird on the fence. nice shot.

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  21. Hard to choose between the first seascape and the sunset.

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