Photo Friday - Tips for your Photography #2

Hey All!
Welcome back to Photo Fridays where I give you little tips to help improve your own photography.  Today I am going to talk to you about the compositional Rule of Thirds. 
Look at the grid below:

Lay this over your photograph.  See the points where the lines intersect?  These are positions where you want your main point of interest.   Look at the photo below and notice how her eyes are right at an intersection of lines. 

Also notice that her head is aligned with one of the lines.  We all read from left to right so your eyes will just naturally flow from the edge of the photo and stop right at her face.  Notice the same photo centered in the middle of the grid.  It just doesn't have the same flow to it, does it?  There is nowhere for your eye to go.  It just stops dead in the center. 

Here are a few other examples.  Note how the eyes are always at a point of intersection.

Note that her body and the flowers are all placed along one of the lines from the Thirds.

Here you can see the bride's body and the wall are both on the grid lines.  Also note here the curve of her body mimics the tree behind her. 

Here is another example:

Another example:

See how much stronger the composition is in the photo on the right? 

I hope this has helped you understand the rule of thirds.  I will be talking about this more in future Photo Fridays.  In the meantime look for this rule.  You will see it everywhere.  You will see it in print ads and on TV.  When you watch Dateline or something similar, watch where they place the person talking.  It is very rarely in the center of your TV. 
So go out and try shooting some photos with this rule in mind and see if your photos become more interesting. 
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