rules for framing an image

sheesh

hi all
we all have heard of the 'rule of thirds' but are there any other rules that photographer should be aware of?

thanks

JayEnnis

sheesh wrote: »

hi all
we all have heard of the 'rule of thirds' but are there any other rules that photographer should be aware of?

thanks

The golden rule.

kelly1

I don't really know of any "rules" but there are certainly lots of tips like:

- Try to keep the background uncluttered.
- The subject should be obvious.
- Use shallow depth of field to isolate the subject from the background
- Try different perspectives e.g. try moving closer to the subject and so wide
angle.
- Use flash on sunny days to fill in shadows.

PCPhoto

when taking pictures of people ... DONT chop off their heads

kelly1

Another I learned from shooting a running race, is that context is important.

Before you move/zoom in tight, be sure you're not excluding important surrounding context. e.g. not including the feet of runners.

mikeanywhere

Take the lens cap off

The Snipe

Discover what you like, and then work with it, and enjoy it. Thats the most important rule. After that, the likes of thirds etc. and then, break them for more creativity.

charybdis

The "rule of thirds" and such aren't really rules, per se. They're ways of describing an established visual grammar, not conditions that must be met for a photograph to be good. Placing important compositional elements along a third or some other section of your frame isn't going to automatically make your images good. It may garner you compliments from others who subscribe to a mechanical view of composition, but if done by rote it's essentially meaningless.

Don't compose according to the rule of thirds, compose how you want the final image to look and what you are trying to convey in the image.

sheesh

JayEnnis wrote: »

The golden rule.

thanks that was pretty much what I was looking for

everyone else thanks too

I just want to tryout these sort of things


I saw something about a spirally one too a bit ago but for the life of me I cannot remember what it is.

Before anybody lectures me about there being no rules in photography

Yes I know that following these rules won't make photographs better but I just want to try them out and see how i get on.

call it an effort to do it 'old school'

charybdis

sheesh wrote: »

I saw something about a spirally one too a bit ago but for the life of me I cannot remember what it is.

It's the same thing as the golden section, just applied recursively:

sheesh wrote: »

Before anybody lectures me about there being no rules in photography

Yes I know that following these rules won't make photographs better but I just want to try them out and see how i get on.

call it an effort to do it 'old school'

My point was that they're not rules, at least not in the sense that people seem to think of rules. I'm not saying your images shouldn't be composed, I'm saying they should be composed with thought as opposed to composed to place a compositional element along a third for the sake of fulfilling the rule of thirds.

sheesh

charybdis wrote: »

It's the same thing as the golden section, just applied recursively:



My point was that they're not rules, at least not in the sense that people seem to think of rules. I'm not saying your images shouldn't be composed, I'm saying they should be composed with thought as opposed to composed to place a compositional element along a third for the sake of fulfilling the rule of thirds.

Sorry I should have put a smilie in there. I meant no offense.

And your right I just wanted to try something as a project I was thinking that the spirally one might work well with something like a distant object.

I was told that you should know the rules before you go out and break them.

thanks for that image it is exactly what i was looking for.:)

gsxr1

PCPhoto wrote: »

when taking pictures of people ... DONT chop off their heads

surely murdering people and then taking a photo of it is a bad idea.

Your bound to get caught

PCPhoto

gsxr1 wrote: »

surely murdering people and then taking a photo of it is a bad idea.

Your bound to get caught

you would think that

Fajitas!

PCPhoto wrote: »

when taking pictures of people ... DONT chop off their heads

Puns aside, this is a bit of a BS 'rule' you often hear popping up with photography. It might apply for photojournalism, but nothing wrong with tight cropping outside of that. I wouldn't be sticking it in any rulebook anyways...

PCPhoto

I have no problem cropping in tight - but I'm talking about when people take pics and they are from the shoulders or neck down ..... full length !!....without the heads.

humberklog

There's a "rule" in construction site engineering: if it looks right it is right. From a design that will have gone through complex mathematical stress understandings gained through experience and scientific knowledge it will eventually get done via this Rule.
The inverse is much the same with photography: if it looks right it is right. But it starts from the creative and will per happenstance fall within the goal posts of esthitic strength rules.

As a rule: if it looks right, it is right.

Smoores

PCPhoto wrote: »

when taking pictures of people ... DONT chop off their heads

Also do not cut off their feet - let them have the appearance of being free in your image

OldGoat

My (broadly generalised) noobish view on 'The Rules'.

The 'rules' are simply guidelines to producing a more pleasing composition in a photograph. Following them does tend to focus the mind on your photograph and how you are going to shoot it and thats not a bad thing (for novices like myself anyway). When you know the rules you can break them for added Ooomph.

However, just ignoring the rules does not make you 'arty'. Your finished photograph has to stand up and loudly proclaim it's independence from the norm. If other photographers can look at the image and say to themselves "I KNOW why he/she broke the rules with that composition" then you have successfully broken the rules. If it doesn’t achieve this then it's just a poorly composed snapshot.

Slavishly ignoring the rules is just as bad as slavishly following them.