Composition

This is an informative thread with the objective of getting people thinking (and discussing) composition. There, that's the learning objectives covered. We will start off simple and hopefully progress into more complex ideas. Please get involved and add your own thoughts to this thread.

Firstly, in photography all rules are made to be broken, so this is designed as a guide only. Nothing is set in stone.

Most photographers will tell you that the most important rule of composition is the rule of thirds, and who am I to disagree. With the rule of thirds the image is divided up into horizontal and vertical third lines (as below).



This isn't an exact science, photography is an art after all. You will notice that my third lines here are very approximate, but the horizon is on one horizontal line and the sun and it's reflection on the water are on a vertical line. Imagine this image if the horizon and sun were centered:



I guess it comes down to personal preference, but I like the thirds.

cheers  Albee