STOP using the RULE OF THIRDS

It is important to learn composition when doing photography and one of the first "rules" you learn is the rule of thirds. In this video, I'll argue why going beyond the rule of thirds is important for all photographers and present even more compositional rules you can utilize in your landscape photography.
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0:00 - What is the rule of thirds
1:00 - "Tool of space"
2:55 - Patterns
4:30 - Breaking patterns
6:06 - "Chop the top"
7:36 - Meaningful depth
9:35 - Juxtaposition
11:06 - Combination
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[@billpanuska5775]

Wow. One of your best episodes ever. You are a teacher, and you make those concepts accessible by explaining them clearly.

[@randyschwager84]

As always, great ideas! Thanks for taking me along!

[@brandonmjohnsonphotography]

Mads fantastic video! I appreciate you doing a composition video for us. You are one of the best at composition!

[@carlgough7839]

Love your photography, never dissapoints. Nice composition tutorial, thanks Mads

[@scotty4418]

Totally agree Mads, the rule of thirds has it's uses but stepping beyond this as you discussed through the application of some critical thinking in relation to your compositions really takes your photography to another level. This was a great discussion and for anyone wanting to understand more on this subject, your video will be a fantastic source of reference as not only do you explain it clearly, your wonderful images demonstrates each point perfectly. Absolutely love the image of you standing on the sandbanks and also the one of the penguin looking out to the ship. Hope you are having an enjoyable visit with Nigel and look forward to seeing what you created

[@morsea-8767]

Another great video! Thank you for the hard work you put into these.

[@Chris_2023_]

Great video Mads! You are so knowledgeable! Thank you!

[@kristopherjwolff]

The way you day woopdeedoo is amazing! I love you Mads

[@alanglover590]

Thanks, it's always great to listen to your advice.

[@sigurdrille9693]

Your pictures are beautiful, your explanations so easy to understand! Thank you for this wonderful insight into your photography vision.

[@rolsonn]

Thanks, Mads! Outstanding video and definitely one to watch several times.

[@dperry90277]

Mads, thanks for the share!

[@michaelj.1121]

Excellent summary and Tipps - plus great images as a „bonus“

[@chriseley9828]

Great video Mads, love your photos and videos, always look forwards to seeing new videos to keep me focussed! Cheers, Chris, Staffordshire, UK.

[@by.othman]

Perhaps, one of the best advise on compositions, many thanks

[@Shaikailash1]

Excellent video, beautifully explained as always. Tusen takk, Mads!

[@erichstocker8358]

This was an exceptional educational video. You did a great job explaining the approaches.

[@paulseymour7485]

Wow !! Excellent direction. advice and presentation. Thank you so much.

[@robertwhitephotography]

I learned long ago with my wildlife photography to have the subject looking into the photo. That shot @3:48 is one of my favorites, @9:12 also !!

[@artiedoc]

Mads , great tips thanks! Nice “best of “ pic choices as well …cheers 😍

[@thomassch.4110]

Thank you Mads for sharing your experience and knowledge! Incredibly informative and useful video! Especially the "chop the top" method is something I got to use more often. To me it’s very impactful 💪 Again… big thanks! Much appreciated 🙏

[@dennismwallentin296]

Great advices 🙂 If we study the old classic landscape painters we will see that there is actually no news. The major difference is that today we know more about perceptions and we have advanced technology accessible.

[@COgirl394]

Thank you so much, Mads. I find thirds are useful in some circumstances, but not always. It's one tool in the toolbox. In this video I especially found chopping off the top(or sides) illuminating. I'm usually trying to include those, but I see now that stopping just before the edge accents the expanse.

[@JeevesTCW]

Some wonderful images Mads

[@tjsinva]

Great examples of nuance in photos. Carry on. 👍🥂

[@chrisvantwiskphotography]

Thx Mads. Always watch your vids. Heading back to dingle soon to get some more shots. It’s a place a beauty as you know. I don’t even know if I really use the rule of thirds. I mostly just like to balance my images. And then I also think that everyone has their own perception that works. Hope to meet one day in Ireland

[@paulbenson3441]

Hi Mads, I've tried on many, many occasions to use the 'rule of thirds' and without success. I found trying to stick to the 'rules' impacted negatively on my photography and I was missing images I just let go. Issues with poor mental health led me to seek counselling and through many sessions I learned to find my own comfort zones, For my landscape photography, it was whatever I saw and found beautiful and inspiring, photograph it in whatever way I felt was right for me. I effectively threw many of the rules away, but I found a great sense of freedom. It may not work for everyone, it is a personal thing and I have made my photography my own. I'm an amateur and I love my photography and I feel more in touch with my surroundings than ever before. It is a satisfying feeling just to go through the images from a day out with the camera. Some images are not so good, some are okay and sometimes an odd one here and there is just what I wanted. A little bit of treasure and a good feeling.

[@SloopJohnBee-vq6dw]

I’ve worked on newspapers for years and yes subjects heading out of the frame is a no-no. 👍📸

[@photonspark]

Very good tips and a good reminder👍

[@oguzbenice7423]

Excellent. Thanks.

[@chrismassa5891]

Excellent info to add to your 2 E books

[@EyeInTheSkyProductions]

Excellent!!!

[@keithklodzen7270]

Nicely done. The rule of thirds often is often a hinderance than an aid.

[@leecoll78]

Some great tips here, this will be rewatched so these sink in 👍

[@peterebel7899]

excellent!

[@delhiggins1234]

I entered a photo in to be judged by a panel of judges and the image was spot on for the rule of thirds…. I actually scored lower because it was “to perfectly placed” according to the feedback from them. They said I needed to add more tension by moving the horizon. That was a first for me.

[@spidersj12]

Hi Mads, at 9:20 that flock of birds flying in the misty foggy morning on the lake, given that they are in the middle of the photo and flying right to left they almost qualify as flying out of the photo not into the photo as you were commenting earlier. If they'd been principally clustered almost under the right tree and not in the middle of the two trees then they'd be flying into the photo, however, it would then be unbalanced... it's a balancing act which of these "rules" to follow and when you have only a split second to take the shot, it comes down to a after action analysis of what you did rather than getting all these rules right in that split second. Then just hoping that your muscle memory develops over many thousands, tens of thousands of photos to make those split second decisions.

[@COgirl394]

I agree. Sometimes a photo looks best breaking a few rules.

[@cina9218]

I love that you call these tools and not rules. Ultimately the goal is a great composition, not conforming to any one rule. Nice.

[@lelezoli]

Köszönjük!

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Thank you so very much! 🙏

[@davebrown6860]

My rule on the ''Rule of Thirds'' is to ignore it if and when possible, it's not even a proper rule, more of a ''compositional'' guide,

[@simonpayne7994]

The rule of thirds is certainly quite useful and usually delivers quite good pictures. If, as a photographer, you are not aiming at some type of abstract graphic, the main problem as far as landscapes are concerned is showing depth. The landscape itself is 3D but the resulting photo is 2D. This is in my opinion the major problem for non-stereoscopic photography. Then we are talking about leading lines, perspective, layering, mist or bokeh, special color schemes, and a few other tricks. This could be a good topic for a future video. The second problem is probably showing scale.

[@RedSinter]

I have always found given my Metalography images my intuition as to what gets the results I want and at many instances my choice when viewed by professionals were rewarded. In other words only in specific instances did the Rule apply. And at the same time hearing in my minds eye the Rule didn't always apply.

[@KGi4]

Rule of thirds is good for those who are learning about composition, but like Mads showed there are much stronger composition rules for landscape photography. Unfortunately some people hook up on it for long time..

[@carlosm9323]

You are good ....

[@masterbaiter327]

Let’s apply the approach - good art will defend itself and need no further explanation (on technical aspects). Most points presented absolutely cooperate with the rule of third and cropping the image to remove sky has nothing to do with it. Same goes with picking the subjects. My best tip is: visit art galleries when you travel. Find inspiration from all around the world. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn from few hundred years of painting history.

[@PaulComptonPDphotography]

hahaha the Whale into? come on Mads, you really to create some amazing photos.. Just seen the birds in your fav image they are not fling in or out lol Its funny you can pick any photo and say something about it.. but in general you speak some very wise words.. and another 11:50 your facing out the frame but it works for other reason.. it really is using ALL the tools to make a photo work.. but you are right what you said at the start always try to have sujects that move to be going into not out of the frame.

[@mseegisms]

how do you take the photos from such a great distance? Do you have a remote control? The signal can't be that strong.😊

[@Hirsutechin]

The rule of thirds is something that doesn't even enter my mind when composing an image. Nor the golden spiral, especially after seeing the classic pooping dog "explained" by it. :p

[@gfierce88]

I totally agree with you. Rule of third is older than photography, where light and dark color gradation creates lines in the painting where aspect ratio was not fixed for the frames. Even sometime painters had to paint on uneven walls. Hence they had to stick with this to lead the attention of viewer from parts to parts of the painting. These days we have fixed aspect ratio most of the time and multiple ways to increase contrast to lead the eye point to point. 🙂

[@msingrey14]

Juxtaposition huh? Isn't that James Popsys's middle name 😅. Great video as usual, Mads.

[@andrewhillphotosvideos2909]

did you put the yellow tulip there

[@MadsPeterIversen]

Lol no, just watch my video where I photograph it ;)

[@bradbellomo6896]

A subject dead center can work, but can look odd, and anything almost but not perfectly centered looks odd. Focal points should never be too close to the edge of a picture. If you avoid these, you end up close to the rule of thirds.

[@ShaunieMcNeil]

"Pack of birds" 😂

[@avradeepmunshi3927]

❤

[@lordjim9744]

👍👏

[@randyhawks7549]

There are no rules in photography, period. Nice photos by the way, some of them are excellent.

[@ciprianpopica]

My only rule is that rules are made to be broken 😁

[@jimwlouavl]

Nice review of composition tools. I’m not a rule of thirds hater. I think it reminds me to think of fore, mid, and background. Forcing subjects exactly to the intersecting lines, however, is too strict an application.

[@Steen_Skov]

be-Yond Mads :) Jeg ved godt, der er nogle stykker i engelsktalende lande, der fatter hat og siger beond. Men det ER altså beYond 🙂

[@SexkeksProducts]

8:09 I actually prefer this version over the other one. The green and the water in the second version on the lower end of the picture appear distracting to me. The first one gives off the enchanted, messy forest vibe.