One of the first compositional rules a new photographer learns is the “Rule of Thirds”. It is a rule of thumb whereby the image is divided in to equal vertical and horizontal “thirds” using two imaginary vertical and two horizontal lines. As the theory goes, placing your subject at, or near, the intersection of any two lines creates a more aesthetically interesting image.
The image of the Mountain Goat above, illustrates this technique. In the image below, I have added the vertical and horizontal lines to illustrate the subject placement.
The rule of thirds was the inspiration for this article, as I think “three” is an important number to consider in a digital photography world. I think it applies to everything from day to day photography to photoshop techniques.
For example, in my day to day critter photography, I go to great lengths to get the best composition I can, given the constraints the subject places on me (IE. Limits of approach and backgrounds). I also try to balance the light direction, quality, and quantity with the ISO, f-stop, and minimum shutter speeds available to me. When I finally get to release the shutter, I typically take at least three images per given situation. I do this even if everything seems “perfect”, as in good shutter speeds, motionless subject, and so on.
The reason, is that over the years I have noticed that even when you “think” that conditions are perfect, occasionally, a little “gremlin” sneaks in there and creates a slightly blurred image. It might be vibration I create, or a certain frequency of shutter and mirror, or a “gremlin”, but if you critically examine your images, there will be some that will be a bit soft for no apparent reason.
What I have learned to do, is to take at least three images even when conditions are perfect, and if conditions are not, I take more!
The rule of “threes”, also applies in other areas of photography as well. I always try to have three copies of my images. My theory being that your hard drive could fail at any time, for a variety of reasons. If you only have one backup, then in my mind, you have no backup, as everything hinges on that sole backup to restore your images. If you have another copy, the “third”, then your level of security has gone up substantially.
Another application of my rule of “threes” applies to Photoshop techniques, and one that I will be expanding upon shortly. In photoshop, there is no “ONE” way of doing things. Whether it is adjusting the highlights, shadows, contrast, saturation, sharpness, or color casts, there are many, many ways to do it. The sheer multitude of ways to do the same thing, is quite intimidating. What I have tried to do is to learn three different ways of doing an adjustment. I have found that even though I may be doing the same thing, one method often gives much better results. If you have only one method in your toolbox, and it isn’t the best one for a given application, you may not get the best possible results. If I try one method, and I am not happy with results, I will often try one of the other techniques at my disposal.
To conclude, duplication or in this case, triplication, is a simple way to increase your success rate and decrease the risk by misadventure.
