There is no way to break compositional rules, only move to more advanced rules

May 22, 2016 by Udi Tirosh 14 Comments

Of course it follows the rule of thirds, It has to to be a good photo, right? I am not sure. You can always “break the rules”, to make a good photo, which loughs at the composition rules…

This display of power from Photographer James Allen Stewart shows that there is no way around the rules, there are only more intricate rules that make a good photo.

For example the balance between light and dark. Dark is heavy, so to balance dark you need lots of light. This is very true and if you think that dark and light are easy, just add some color into it, it then gets very complex.

compare the photos below, the first one is done with the rule of thirds, the second takes light/dark balance into account.

Direction of the photos plays a part too. As someone who reads right to left, I usually start scanning a photo from the right, but most of the (western) world reads from left to right, and so the “story” of the photo reads from left to right.

If you consider a photo as a story, then an image is “read” from left to right, you want to start with an exposition, move to a climax and end with a fade.

see if you feel differently with the two photos below:

[How To Break The Rules Of Composition | James Allen Stewart via nofolmschool]

About Udi Tirosh

Udi Tirosh is the Founder and Editor in Chief of DIYPhotography, he is also a photographer, a relentless entrepreneur, a prolific inventor and a dad, not necessarily in that order

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foto2021

Rules of composition are only for technicians who haven’t a clue about art. Creative photographers do not need rules.
- Leo Falcon
  
  I disagree. Art is attached to the social environment, time and place. Nothing really stays original or innovative forever. And also your main audience is the one who is going to judge you. Is incredible to think one of the most hated film directors is considered a genius by some others ( https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/48-armageddon ) . I like to think that once you feel stuck with your work you can work with the basic rules to go back from the start and re-imagine your style off work. Or who knows maybe all those creatives are doing art gets boring and people will crave for technicians.
- Gvido Mūrnieks
  
  I deeply disagree.
  Personally, I have attended drawing and crafts groups, since I was in grade school and later I attended art school. Rules of composition were drilled into my head and become a second nature, to some extent. Now, when I take a photo, using any kind of “rules” isn’t even crossing my mind. But, it doesn’t mean, that I am not using these rules.
  
  Basically, “creative photographers/painters/etc” consciously or unconsciously have learned these rules. And instead consciously thinking about these rules – these rules just “feel right”.
- James Allen Stewart
  
  We can always stop analyzing and predicting rules, but everything is made up of rules 🙂 That’s how the universe works.
  The only debatable thing is “what are the rules?” 😉
  I’m sure I’m wrong in some things, but it gives food for thought, no?
  Have a great day, guys!
Ignasi Jacob

The rules rules.
- Stan Rothstein
  
  “in the world of rules there are no rules, only Fools.” Ogden Nash-Carnival of the Animals
Jan Terpstra

There are no rules.
Tac Coluccio

The video is interesting, but what he is describing are not “rules.” They’re merely a couple of things he does that attribute to his personal style. The idea that we break rules just to move on to new rules is absurd. Although, I believe that you do need to learn the “rules” and feel confident in recreating them before you can successfully break them.
Martin Jameson

Another important thing photographers should do is research their props. If you are going to photograph a model with a bow and arrow, watch a few professional archers on YouTube to see how they hold the arrow and draw the bow. That way you can show the model how to do it correctly. This poor archer is going to end up with sliced up fingers keeping their pointer on top like that (if she were to actually shoot something), also I believe that that arrow is for a compound bow, not a recurve bow. We photographers like to discuss composition and research camera/lens stats like crazy, let’s take a little time to learn about props too.
- James Allen Stewart
  
  Sorry 😉
  - Martin
    
    I see it in a lot of fantasy style photo shoots! A couple other details, the single fletching/feather goes away from the bow so that it doesn’t hit, and judging by the curve of the handle the bow looks like it’s strung backwards (easily done on a recurve bow). It is a beautiful shot, but as a novice archer, and a stickler for details 😉 these stood out to me. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, and I hope you don’t mind me passing on some of mine.
    - James Allen Stewart
      
      Not at all 🙂 We all have different priorities, and I love hearing about others 😉 Have a great day
bbestone

As in any art, it is open to interpretation, isn’t it? I find , as a new comer to photography, that although I do know some of the rules, being open to others artistic insights can only help me to be open within mine. And as I’ve discovered , my creativity ( intuition) rules each and every photograph that I help create. I loved this video and something within, loved it too! -g- I’m hungry to learn more! Thank you for sharing this.
Sanguine Studio

I think that there are some excellent points made here but the rules are not being broken, they are just transitioning. I started in photography 36 years ago, when the cheapest method was to do it in camera mostly. I would like to state that color and light balance are old concepts not new ones. But even when you look at the “broken rules” they still conform to the same rules. In a couple of these points i cringed because the eye was so close to the golden mean but just a bit off. All i could think was you are close but still off a bit. A good example of this is the freckled girl. You changed the balance correctly but if you cropped just a little off of the top, and back off of the light side to compensate for the balance her right eye would fall into the golden mean center perfectly. I do however completely agree with left to right. i always disliked shooting lefty batters for that exact reason. Also the silhouette image on the pier now falls into the rule of 5ths rather than the rule of 3rds. As such a small crop out from the bottom would improve this image to that end.