The rule of thirds

Be offish

For other examples:

Henri Cartier-Bresson p. 11

Cristina Garcia Rodero p. 15

Fay Godwin p. 67

Elaine Constantine p. 81

Inzajeano Latif p. 123

Like many, Guy Bourdin loves a good bottom. But rather than putting this one slap bang in the middle of the frame, here he’s added to the eccentricity of the shot by positioning the subject off-centre. Even so, the image is still nicely balanced, or, to put it another way, it doesn’t look ‘wrong’.

That’s because Bourdin has used the ‘rule of thirds’. This means splitting your frame into three sections – either horizontally or vertically – and positioning your focal point in line with this imaginary grid.

If you don’t want to centre your subject, the rule of thirds helps maintain ...

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