More Rule of Threes

It’s actually a bit hard to separate depth of field issues from the so-called “rule” of threes or of third. The concepts are closely intertwined and all work together to create very elegant photos. These two, taken last month in Colorado of our youngest granddaughter, display this concept nicely. In the top picture, notice the image is divided into thirds – rather than centering Elena, I placed her in the left third of the picture. With the background out of focus (using a long telephoto lens) the expression on her face and her body languages really snap out at the viewer.

In the second photo, which is really a lucky shot as I was walking ahead of her and only happened to glance over my shoulder to see what she was up to, I place her once again to the left. Notice there are only three “objects” in the picture – the wheel, her face, and the background.

In the bottom picture, of Addy, Elena’s older sister, notice the off balance approach and the out of focus, mostly uncluttered background. All of these elements take thinking ahead, with these “rules” in mind.