As we get stuck into a fresh new year, we wanted our first monthly theme to be something that every 365er can have fun with!
One of the most simple, yet effective, ways improve your photography skills is to work on composition, with one of the most popular techniques being the “Rule of Thirds”. Whether you’re focusing on portraits, landscapes, macro or everything in between, it’s a great theme to apply to almost any style of photography!
While it might seem intuitive to center your image, it’s thought that off-centering can be more pleasing on the eye. It allows us to use negative space to emphasis a subject or break down an image in a way that a viewer's eyes will be lead through different focal points.
To get started you simply need to imagine four lines creating an even 9-cell grid over your photo - some cameras and smartphones will have this feature already - then aiming to line up the focal point of your shot with one of the four points where the lines cross.
How to enter this month’s theme
When uploading your photos use the tag section (on the edit/organise screen) and insert this week's theme tag: theme-thirds.
Entry Guidelines: Photos must be your own and must have been taken and uploaded from Tuesday 1st January until the following Thursday 31st January. 5 finalists will be chosen in the first couple days of February, then you get to vote for the winner in the following month!
365 Inspiration
To demonstrate how versatile the rule of thirds is, we’ve pulled together some top examples from your photos on 365 Project:
@emrob has kicked off this year’s 365 project with their furry friend Maggie - see how they’ve lined up her nose in the bottom right corner, with her eyes either side of the top right corner.
@koalagardens has captured thise sweet little bird with classic composition - note how the bird is also facing towards the negative space!
@cathrinemitch really emphasizes how isolated this old wooden barn is. As it sits among the corn fields, we can’t help but wonder if anything lurks in there.
@dmcoile has captured the magic, and majestic size, of the golden autumn woodlands with this simple but well-composed shot.
Even in a busier scene, @jborrases has worked with the pop of colour in the woman's cardigan to anchor our attention on the people, making us wonder about what they can see up above.
For similar themes in the past, we’ve also shared this super helpful post by, Photography Mad. If you're still getting to grips with some of the basics they have some great examples of different subjects to give you extra inspiration.
Finally - have fun! We can't wait to see your entries!
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I do hope we will see the winner of the weekly theme, though, of "holidays."