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When taking photos, there are certain rules that you can follow in order to make them more pleasing to the human eye. However, these rules should not be something that you set in stone and always follow! Rules are in some cases, meant to be broken after all. Ansel Adams can in fact be quoted as saying “The so-called rules of photographic composition are, in my opinion, invalid, irrelevant and immaterial” .  I whole-heartedly agree with him about it also. After all, the photos you take should not only be a record of an object or event frozen in time, but they should also be a tool of self expression. You certainly can not express yourself if you’re following rules made by others all of the time.

So with that in mind, these rules are only intended as guidelines to help you to begin composing your photos better. They are very useful as a learning tool and the majority of the basic photography classes that exist will quite likely teach you them as well. However, once you feel comfortable with them, by all means, I urge you to bend them in your own unique ways and create something that hasn’t been done before.

Rule 1: The Rule of Thirds

This rule is based on the theory that the eye naturally goes to a point two thirds up the page. This basically means that you should try to imagine the photo that you’re taking divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically. The goal here is to place the subject of your photo where two of your lines intersect, or to place your horizon on one of these lines.
Examples below:

The joshua tree is in or near the intersecting lines

The horizon is on the line and the camp fire is on the intersection