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Add Visual Interest To Your Photos With The Rule Of Thirds

Free Adobe Photoshop Photo Editing Tutorials At Photoshop Essentials.com


ummar!" Whether you're an amateur or pro photographer, you can make ordinary photos more extraordinary using Photoshop and a simple yet powerful design trick. Written by Steve Patterson Exclusively for Photoshop Essentials.com. Part of our complete collection of Photo Retouch tutorials. n this Photoshop tutorial, we're going to look at how to add more visual interest to our photos by cropping them using a simple, tried and true design trick known as the Rule of Thirds. !on't worry, no prior design knowledge is necessary. "he great thing about it is, not only is it something that any photographer can benefit from, amateur or professional, but once you've been introduced to it as we're about to do here, your photos will forever look better. #ne of the tell$tale signs of an amateur photo or %tourist snapshot% is that the sub&ect of the photo is smack dab in the center of the frame, as if the photographer was aiming at his or her sub&ect not through the lens of a camera but through the scope of a rifle. 'n easy way to add more interest to your photos and make them look more professional is to position your sub&ects using what's known as the Rule of Thirds. f you've never heard of the (ule of "hirds, it's )uite simple. *or every three photos you take, you throw away the first two and keep only the third one, because the third one always looks the best. Still reading+ ,ood, because 'm &oking. -opefully you haven't deleted too many photos yet. "he real idea behind the (ule of "hirds is to imagine that your photo is divided up into a grid of three e)ual rows and three e)ual columns, and the %rule% .think of it more as a guideline than a rule/ is that your photo will look more interesting to people if the sub&ect in the photo is positioned at one of the four points where these grid lines intersect. t's a very basic idea, and yet it works remarkably well, as we're about to see. Things To #onsider... ' couple of things to keep in mind though before we continue. *irst, it helps a lot if you already had the (ule of "hirds in mind when you took the photo, since then we'd have a better chance of being able to position the sub&ect into one of these imaginary intersecting grid points. f the sub&ect is taking up too much space in the image, there may not be enough room left around the sub&ect to move it to a different position if it wasn't planned out ahead of time. 'lso, since we're going to be cropping the images, we'll be creating smaller versions than the originals. "he number of pixels in your image, which is determined by the megapixel .0P/ value of your camera, will determine the maximum si1e you'll be able to crop to, but it will always be smaller than what we started out with. *or this tutorial, 'm going to take one of my photos, captured using an 20P camera, and crop it down to a standard si1e 3x4 using the (ule of "hirds to make it more interesting. 5eeping with standard photo si1es, could probably go as large as a 6x7 with my 20P images, but unless had already positioned the sub&ect close to one of those imaginary intersecting grid points when snapped the photo, which in this case didn't, it's doubtful that would have enough wiggle room left in the image to crop to an 2x89, at least not without sacrificing image )uality. #kay, that's enough talking. :et's get things started. -ere's the photo 'm going to be using in this tutorial;

"he original photo. 's it is, it's not a bad photo. 'fter all, it's hard to take a bad photo of a butterfly resting on a flower. -owever, it does sort of have that % 'm about to shoot you with my sniper rifle% look to it, and think could make this photo more interesting if reposition the butterfly using the (ule of "hirds. <efore we go any further, let's see exactly what we mean by this (ule of "hirds. -ere's the same photo again, but this time, 've added the grid lines that 've been talking about. "hey're the hori1ontal and vertical yellow lines dividing the image up into = e)ually si1ed rows and columns;

The original photo showing the Rule of Thirds grid lines (in yellow) and the intersection points (circled in red).

"he points where these grid lines intersect have been circled in red. 'ccording to the rule of thirds, our image will look more interesting if the sub&ect, which in this case is the butterfly, is positioned at or near one of these points, which at the moment it isn't. We're going to fix that. 's stated on the previous page, since we're cropping images here, we'll be making smaller versions than the originals, and in this case, want to turn my photo into a more interesting 3x4. Since know exactly what si1e want my final photo to be, the easiest thing to do is to create a new document at exactly that si1e. 'll assume from this moment on that you also want a 3x4, but if you're after a different si1e, any time you see me type %3x4%, simply replace it with your own photo dimensions.
Step 1: Create A New 4x6 Document In Photoshop

Since know 'm going to want a 3x4 when 'm done, 'm going to create a new blank 3x4 document in Photoshop by going up to the File $enu at the top of the screen and choosing %e&..., which brings up the >ew !ocument dialog box.

Photoshop's New Document dialog box

want my photo to use landscape orientation, meaning the width is longer than the height, so 'll enter ' inches for the width and ( inches for the height. also want to make sure my photo prints nice and sharp, so 'll enter )** pi+els per inch for the resolution value. 've also named my document %(ule of "hirds 3x4%, but you don't have to name yours if you don't want to. When you're done entering the values, click #5 and Photoshop will create your new blank document for you.
Step 2: Drag The Photo Into The New Document

>ow that have both my original photo and the new document open on my screen, 'm going to grab my $o,e tool either from the "ools palette or by pressing %0% on my keyboard, and then 'm going to click anywhere inside my photo and drag it with my mouse into the new document;

!ith the original photo and the new document open in Photoshop" clic# anywhere inside the photo with the $o%e tool and drag the image into the new document.

'nd here's what my new document now looks like after dragged my photo into it. Since my original photo was considerably larger than a 3x4, the sides of the photo extend out beyond the dimensions of the document, but that's fine for now. 'll we need for the moment is for the photo to be inside the 3x4 document;

The photo now inside the new document.

don't need to have my original photo open anymore, and you don't either, so go ahead and close it, leaving only the new document open. <efore we go moving or resi1ing our photo inside the new document, we need our (ule of "hirds grid lines. ?reating the grid lines in Photoshop is incredibly easy, but it's also a little time consuming and even worse, boring, and Easy @ "ime ?onsuming @ <oring has %?reate an actionA% written all over it, which is what we're going to do next.

n this section of the tutorial, we're going to not only create our rule of thirds grid lines, we're going to record an action as we're creating them so we only have to do this once. #nce we have the process saved as an action, the next time we go to crop an image using the (ule of "hirds, we can sit back and let Photoshop make the grid lines for us. #f course, you don't technically have to create an action for this if you're the type of person who has a thing for repetitive tasks, in which case you and have nothing in common. 'm making an action.
Step 3: Create A New Action In The Actions Pa ette

,o to your 'ctions palette .it's grouped in by default with the -istory palette/ and click on the #reate %e& Action icon at the bottom of the palette, as shown below;

&lic# the '&reate New 'ction' button in the 'ctions palette

"his brings up Photoshop's %>ew 'ction% dialog box;

Photoshop's New 'ction dialog box.

>ame your new action %(ule of "hirds ,rids% or something similar of your choosing. 'm creating my action in the !efault 'ctions set, but feel free to create a new set or use an actions set you've previously created. "o be able to access this action )uickly with a keyboard shortcut, 've chosen the *B key from the drop$down list of *unction 5ey choices, along with Shift and ?ontrol, which means that once 've recorded my action, 'll be able to access it by pressing Shift@?trl@*B .the ?trl key would be the ?ommand key if was using a 0ac/. 've left the ?olor option set to %>one%. When you're done, click the Record button and let's begin creating these grid lines while Photoshop patiently and dutifully records each and every step along the way.
Step 4: A!! A New "ori#onta $ui!e

With Photoshop recording our steps, go up to the Vie& menu at the top of the screen and choose %e& -uide..., which will bring up the >ew ,uide dialog box. We're going to add our first of four guides which will become our (ule of "hirds grid.

&hoose 'New (uide' from the )iew menu

*or %#rientation%, select .ori/ontal, and in the %Position% value box, type in )).)0, then click #5. Cou'll see your first guide appear over top of your photo;

The first of four guides has been added to the image.

Cour guide probably won't show up in yellow. <y default, guides are drawn in cyan. 've changed mine to yellow to make them easier to see. Cou can change the color of your guides as well by going to Photoshop's Preferences and then to the -uides1 -rids 2 lices preferences. "he option to change the guide color is at the very top.
Step %: A!! A Secon! "ori#onta $ui!e

:et's add a second hori1ontal guide. 'gain go back to the Vie& menu and again choose %e& -uide..., to bring up the >ew ,uide dialog box. ?hoose .ori/ontal again for %#rientation%, and this time, type ''.'0 for the %Position% value;

&reating the second hori*ontal guide at a position of ++.+,

?lick #5, and the second guide appears over the photo;

The second guide added. Step 6: A!! A New &ertica $ui!e

,o back to the Vie& menu once again and again choose %e& -uide... .see how this is becoming time consuming and boring+/. "his time choose Vertical for %#rientation%, and type )).)0 for the %Position% value;

&reating the first %ertical guide at --.-,

?lick #5, and we now have three guides over our image. We're almost there;

The third guide added. Step ': A!! A Secon! &ertica $ui!e

Still awake+ ,ood, because we have &ust one more to add. #ne last time, go up to the Vie& menu, choose %e& -uide..., select Vertical for %#rientation%, and finally, type ''.'0 for the %Position% value;

&reating the second %ertical guide at ++.+,

?lick #5, and we're doneA We now have our (ule of "hirds grid thanks to our four guides;

'll four guides ha%e been added" creating our Rule of Thirds grid. Step (: Press )Stop) To *inish +ecor!ing The Action

>ow that we have our (ule of "hirds grid, we can stop recording the action. ?lick the top icon at the bottom of the 'ctions palette to complete our %(ule of "hirds ,rids% action;

&lic# the .top button at the bottom of the 'ctions palette to end the recording and complete the action.

>ow that we've saved the grid creation process as an action, the next time we need it, we can simply select the action from the 'ctions palette or use whichever keyboard shortcut you assigned for it We won't have to do this manually again. 'nd now that our (ule of "hirds grid is in place, we can finally use it to crop and move our image into position, which we'll do next. We've created a new 3x4 Photoshop document. We've dragged our original photo into this new document. We've added two hori1ontal and two vertical guides to create our rule of thirds grid and saved the process as an action. 'll that's left to do now is move the sub&ect of the photo into one of the four intersecting grid points. 'fter careful consideration, 've decided that my photo would look best with the butterfly positioned in or close to the top right intersection point, shown below circled in red;

The top right intersection point where /'%e decided to place the sub0ect of my photo.

'm going to move it into place and shrink the photo down in si1e at the same time using Photoshop's %*ree "ransform% option.
Step ,: Se ect The )*ree Trans-orm) .ption

Dse the keyboard shortcut #trl3T .Win/ E #ommand3T .0ac/ to )uickly bring up the Free Transform box and handles around your image. When you do that, if it looks like nothing has happened, it's because your photo is larger than the document you've dragged it into and the sides of the image are extending out beyond the document window where you can't see them. We'll fix that problem in the next step.
Step 1/: Press )Ctr 0/) 12in3 4 )Comman!0/) 15ac3 To *it 67er8thing .n Screen

Press #trl3* .Win/ E #ommand3* .0ac/ to fit your entire photo, including everything that's extending out beyond the boundaries of the document window, onto the screen, at which point the *ree "ransform box and handles will also be visible. 've circled the *ree "ransform handles in red below, since they're a bit hard to see in the screenshot;

1it the entire photo on screen to gain access to the 1ree Transform handles. Step 11: 5o7e The Su9:ect .- The Photo Into Position

With my *ree "ransform box around my image, the first thing 'm going to do is move the sub&ect of my photo, the butterfly, into place. want him .or her/ to appear somewhere in that top right grid intersection point, so 'm going to click anywhere inside my photo and drag the butterfly into position. think the spot where its front legs and body meet works nicely;

&lic# inside the image and drag the sub0ect into the intersecting grid point that wor#s best for your photo. Step 12: Drag The Center Anchor Point .- The *ree Trans-orm ;ox To The $ri! Point

0y sub&ect is in place, but there's still )uite a bit of the original photo that's still extending out of view, and want to keep as much of it as can in this new version of the image, so 'm going to drag the corner handles of the *ree "ransform box inward to fit more of the photo into the visible document area. Problem is, as drag the handles inward, my butterfly is going to keep moving out of position on me, and 've already got it where want it. *ortunately, can avoid that problem by first moving the center anchor point of the *ree "ransform box to that top right grid point. "hat way, my butterfly will stay in place as 'm dragging. Cou'll find the center anchor point, yep, you guessed it, in the center of the *ree "ransform box .circled in red below/;

The 1ree Transform center anchor point.

"o move it, simply click it and drag it to a new location. 'm going to drag it to that top right grid point;

The center 1ree Transform anchor point now mo%ed to its new location. Step 13: Drag The *ree Trans-orm "an! es Inwar! To *it 5ore .- The .rigina Photo Into The Image

>ow that the center anchor point has been moved into place, it's time to finish things off by dragging any one of the *ree "ransform corner handle points inward, shrinking the si1e of the original photo thereby allowing more of it to fit into the new (ule of "hirds version of the image. 's you drag any of the corner handles inward, hold down hift3Alt .Win/ E hift3Option .0ac/ as you drag. "he Shift key will constrain the proportions of the image, and the 'lt or #ption key will cause the image to shrink inward from the location of that center anchor point, which is exactly what we want. 'm going to hold down Shift@'lt, since 'm using a P? here, and 'll drag the bottom left corner point inward to fit as much of my original photo into my new 3x4 image as can;

Reducing the si*e of my original photo to fit it as much of it as possible into the new 2x+ image.

Press Enter or (eturn to apply the transformation.


Step 14: "i!e The $ui!es An! <ou)re Done=

Press #trl34 .Win/ E #ommand34 .0ac/ to hide the guides we created, and remember that the next time you need to create that =x= (ule of "hirds grid, you have that action ready to goA #nce you've hidden the guides, that's itA Cou're doneA -ere's my original %sniper rifle% image for the sake of comparison;

'nd here's my more interesting looking %(ule of "hirds% 3x4 version, a subtle yet definite improvement;

The final result.

'nd there we have itA Even if you're not a professional photographer and the only time you snap photos is on family vacations, you can use Photoshop and the (ule of "hirds design trick to easily make ordinary photos seem a little more extraordinary.

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