Rules of a Third – Portrait Photography

I’m hoping you have heard of the Rules of a Third, to help you compose Landscapes etc. Well don’t forget to try it on Portraits too.

On to portrait one as an example. Here you can see the eyes are on the top 1/3 horizontal, whilst the nose is on the right 1/3 vertical. This provides a very “pleasing” composition, whilst the tight crop provides some impact

Here we find a portrait where the face is more central, but you find the eyes both hit the intersections of the top horizontal 1/3 & both verticals. The mouth is on the lower horizontal 1/3

Now don’t feel you have to be spot on the 1/3. Instead try to use it as a general framework. In this portrait you can see the hand is pretty close to the bottom right intersection of 1/3′s, whilst the eyes are somewhere near the top 1/3 horizontal. In the end it produces a nicely balanced portrait

Hope this has been of some use & don’t forget, rules are there to be broken, so don’t get too hung up on it