MYTH #4: “It gets the subject out of the center.”

[Black Pearl]

I knew I liked central subject, strongly symmetrical images for a reason...

http://petapixel.com/2016/01/30/10-myths-about-the-rule-of-thirds/

[ChrisLumix]

[colinb]

Surely the Rule of Thirds was never meant to be the 'end all' of rules and more of a help for beginners to understand you don't need to place everything in the middle of a picture? ROT is a good basic tool but not a bible, great article BP but I think it might confuse a beginner  more than help?

[Craftysnapper]

Mmm while a great believer in rules are meant to be broken once you get past his arty explanations the fact remains that most of those images are following the rule of thirds to some degree.

And to a greater degree he is copying the golden ratio upon which the rule of thirds derives from.

http://www.goldennumber.net/art-composition-design/

Edited February 2, 2016 by OlympusPaul

[fuzzyedges]

I agree with you Paul 

What is probably being said is to comply strictly with the rule of thirds could produce some grotty images 

All the rules need a good looking at and also why you like a particular image/images then you start to train your eye and brain into looking for images that suit you and to find the best position to take them from rather than that looks nice click, which nearly always leads to the "I wish I had ......" statement 

[FUJI]

Ponder on this....

The rules say......we must drive in the left hand side if the road in the UK.........You could break this rule or be very creative with your driving, but on the whole it is safer to stick to rules.

Beginners need to learn and then to use the Rule of Thirds before learning how to break or adapt them to suit his or her vision.

FUJI

[ChrisLumix]

On 2 February 2016 at 20:03, FUJI said:

Ponder on this....

The rules say......we must drive in the left hand side if the road in the UK.........You could break this rule or be very creative with your driving, but on the whole it is safer to stick to rules.

Beginners need to learn and then to use the Rule of Thirds before learning how to break or adapt them to suit his or her vision.

FUJI

Well, no. Beginners need to learn the ART of COMPOSITION! If the RoT helps now and then, all well and good. But beginners should at the same time be taught its drawbacks (as highlighted in that article). It would help greatly if engineers such as camera manufacturers didn't include ONLY the thirds grid in their displays, and offered other alternatives too.