Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 55. The 'golden mean' as a compositional technique.
The 'rule of thirds' is a compositional technique frequently used in photography and
design. It involves dividing the overall image space horizontally and vertically into thirds
and ensuring that the key elements occur either at intersections of the grid
49
. The 'rule of
thirds' device is attributed to English painter Sir Joshua Reynolds and described by English
painter and engraver John Thomas Smith in
Remarks on Rural Scenery
(1797):
Analogous to this 'Rule of thirds', (if I may be allowed so to call it) I have pre-
sumed to think that, in connecting or in breaking the various lines of a picture,
it would likewise be a good rule to do it, in general, by a similar scheme of pro-
portion; for example, in a design of landscape, to determine the sky at about
two-thirds; or else at about one-third
(OED, 2012).
In the following Figure, the 'rule of thirds' grid has been placed over film posters to illus-
trate the way in which specific elements in the poster for
Woodstock
(1969), and
A Beauti-
ful Mind
(2001) are located relative to the grid. Like the 'golden mean' the 'rule of thirds'
is a common compositional device in photography and visual imagery.
