Composition. A fancy word which just means what is included in the frame when you take a picture and how things are arranged within the frame. When crafting a photograph, there are tons of "rules" which will help make your photos more visually appealing. For now, let's just start with one.
The Rule of Thirds
Possibly the most basic and well-known composition technique is the “Rule of Thirds”. It is an easy technique to implement and will help your photos be more visually appealing and appear well-balanced. To start, imagine a photo is split into 9 equal sections by drawing 2 vertical and 2 horizontal lines - like a tic-tac-toe board.
The theory is that if you place points of interest near the intersections or along the lines, then your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Try to imagine the grid when you are taking a photo (some phones and camera even have a feature you can turn on to see the grid on your screen). You can also crop the photo after you take it using a simple editing app. It isn’t always necessary to follow this rule but it’s a good guide to help your photos look more natural.
There are two main parts of the rule of thirds.
First, if there is a vertical or horizontal line in your photo (e.g. the horizon), try to place that line on one of the “thirds”.
Second, the main focal point (what you want people to look at first) of the photo should fall on one of the “intersections”.
Got questions? Watch this video to learn even more and feel free to ask your questions in the comments.