"The Rule of Thirds" is another one of those "rules" every good photographer should know. It is one of the fundamentals of composition in photography. Instead of centering everything, divide your camera's viewfinder into "thirds" and place the subject or the most important elements where the lines intersect as shown by the red dots on the diagram below. If your camera has a "Rule of Thirds" overlay, you may want to turn it on to assist you.

Rule of Thirds Diagram

Example 1


Example 2


Example 3


"The Rule of Thirds" is a good "guideline" for basic composition. It doesn't mean you always have to use it to get great pictures, but you "will" have more better pictures if you follow this guideline vs. if you do not. The idea is to move away from centering everything.

Article by Jeremy Baker