Rule of Thirds - The Fundamental of Good Framing

The 'Rule of Thirds' was one of the first things that I was taught this year. I see now that as Introduction to using the camera, it was an essential place to start. The first piece of homework that I was required to do was to film a sixty second static shot. Filming outside of my bedroom, I did not apply the Rule of Thirds, and what was missing from the shot was entirely obvious to me once I learned just what this technique does. Just by having a look at some stills frames from your favorite films it immediately becomes obvious (see above left).

By drawing these imaginary set of lines on your image you can see that a much more dynamic and attention grabbing composition is made by placing points on interest on the vertical lines. The huge amount of difference that this makes can be seen below. 

The image on the left is nice enough, but it looks off and you really have to focus your eyes on the middle the image. The image is left is much more effective, as your eyes are immediatly drawn towards the point of interest.

After the poor shot that I handed in for my initial homework, I realized that I hadn't fully understood the Rule of Thirds. I therefore decided that I wanted to improve my knowledge of framing and composition. I searched high and low in the library for a book that would help me with this, and I found one called '101 top tips for DSLR video'. The book included a section on the Rule of Thirds which pointed to the fact that most the DSLR cameras feature an on-camera grid that you can use to help compose your shots. I was able to easily find this on my Cannon 600D, and I went away with the attention of getting a better shot than on my first go.

The first shot that I took. It is poor. I wasn't thinking about the Rule of Thirds and just trying to get a cool looking shot with no knowledge on how to do this.

The second shot which was taken after I went away and researched the Rule of Thirds. I think you'll agree there is a world of difference. I could quite easily see this shot in a film.

In conclusion going away and researching the Rule of Thirds greatly improved my framing and composition. I am happy that I now understand the basics and am able to compose good looking shots.