Rule of Thirds: a 18th century invention
Presented as the cornerstone of photographic composition and knowledge, suggested by many to be a thing from the mysterious past, the Rule of Thirds is an invention from 1797.
Religiously defended by some, the Rule of Thirds is often forgotten by famous photographers, from Ansel Adams to Edward Weston, or cinematographers as Stanley Kubrick or Wes Anderson. Does the rule really matter?
Recently, I came across one article “revealing” a photographer had discovered the golden ratio in Ansel Adams’ public domain photographs that were created for the U.S. government. I had to laugh. I always keep in my mind a phrase from Ansel Adams: “The so-called rules of photographic composition are, in my opinion, invalid, irrelevant and immaterial.” Apparently, many of the people reading the article also laughed, meaning there is a new conscience about the so called Rule of Thirds.
The lines above are from one article I published at the website ProVideo Coalition. The Rule of Thirds is something that bothers me, but sometimes I feel that it is hard to share with people some of the ideas I’ve about it. They don’t believe me when I say the Rule of Thirds has to do with the Kodak Rule, and that none of them has much to do with a distant past.
I decided it was better to use the voices of others to pass on a message about the Rule of Thirds, just to help people get rid of it in their minds. As another photographer said, rules like this only do one thing: transform what should be art in lead. A photograph, for me, holds inside it, many times, multiple photographs, with different framing options. If we were to follow the Rule of Thirds, there would, at most, be only four possible positions to choose from. Does it make sense to you? Imagine eight photographers at the same place: four of them will have to repeat what the others have photographed. Is this your idea of creativity?
I know not everyone will agree with the idea that the Rule of Thirds creates more problems than it solves. But facts are facts, and I picked some of the facts available, served in the whole article, which you can read at ProVideo Coalition, with quotes from some famous photographers, all suggesting that rules and photography should not go into the same sentence. Then I added the opinions from photographers as Michael Freeman or Joe Cornish and…
Well, if you want to know more, follow the link. It’s a first story about “rules”, but I intend to write some more. The article may help you to take your photography in a new direction. That’s the whole reason why I wrote it. If it interests, there will be more coming in a near future. When I publish them, I will post a note here, too! Meanwhile, keep an eye on this space, because other stories will be published at Medium.
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