Tip Tuesday

Since I am in full photo edit mode today due to lack of doing it yesterday (since I was in family mode) I thought I would take this opportunity to toss a tip tidbit your way! LOL! Today is all about the rule of thirds (a foreign concept to most people)! If you have never heard of this but embrace it in your every day shooting it will make the composition of your photos much more interesting, I promise. The best part is, there is no purchase required! You can do this with any camera!

The rule of thirds: imagine that you are drawing a tic-tac-toe board on your photo (please don't really do this because you will ruin your photo) and then examine it to see if the rule applies. What is the rule, you ask? Simply stated, subjects placed at any of the four intersections of these lines make for a more compelling image as opposed to a subject that is just centered in the middle.

I had to search high and low for a photo to use to demonstrate because I always use the rule of thirds unless I am going for some artsy look! So today little man (that I babysat for) is my model! Please forgive my lines, I don't think I have ever been able to freehand a straight line in my life! Ha!

Notice that my little subject is dead center and does not cross any of the four intersections at all. Not good shooting (I was going for artsy)! LOL! Quick fix is to crop the photo which you can do in a program or in Windows Photo gallery!

So here is little man after cropping the photo in PSE 6. Notice that he crosses three intersections which makes him the main focus of the photo! See I told you it was easy!
And here is the final product thanks to editing! Now I could have made my life so much easier by just shooting it like this in the first place but then I would not have had a photo to use for an example!! LOL!

The one thing that could cause you some problem would be your autofocus because it assumes that your focus will be in the center, which is not always true. If you find your subject is blurry here is the remedy! Aim your camera so that the autofocus frame is positioned over your subject and push the shutter release halfway and keep it there in the half position while you recompose the shot and then push the button the rest of the way down to capture the shot!

Pretty easy, huh? Try it yourself and let me know how it goes for you as you wow your family and friends with your cool photos!