Talking Pictures | View Through a Door & The Rule of Thirds

Composition and framing are constant, ever-present thoughts in a photographer's mind as they create images. How a point of interest sits within a photograph can shape how we perceive what we’re seeing. Here’s a case in point.

I’ve always used the much-quoted ‘Rule of Thirds’ when framing a photo. The rule is a guideline that usually places the subject in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two thirds more open creating dynamism or negative space, drawing the eye around a frame. Dividing a photo into nine equal parts, split by two equally spaced horizontal and vertical lines, means where you position the subject will give very different results. Try it for yourself - go to the camera on your phone and play with the menus. Chances are there will be an option to overlay a rule of thirds grid on your screen as you take a photo.

However, I’ve always been drawn to symmetry and like to bend the rule a little every now and then, placing the subject dead-centre, creating negative space on either side. It’s something the film-maker Wes Anderson regularly does. Not sure what I mean…? Take a look at the video below.

So how does this play into photographing a wedding? Well, if all photos were taken from the same viewpoint, with similar framing, they’d end up lacking visual interest. Introducing something different every now and then creates moments of visual interest and pacing in your set of photos. A case in point is this moment from Alex & Henry’s wedding in Oxford a few years ago. I’d spotted the opportunity to line up the doorway and light above, shooting from the inside out. Knowing that by exposing correctly for Alex outside, the interior would fall into complete shadow, it felt right to use these areas of negative space to emphasise the inside-out nature of this image. Looking back, it worked well and is a shot I’m pretty happy with :-)

Thanks for looking at this Talking Pictures post - if you’ve enjoyed it, why not see others in the series which dig a little deeper into a single image and the thinking behind it.