If you’re like me, you might be wondering why your photographs look nothing like the ones your photo savvy friends take. Yes, it might be because they have more years of practice or the latest snazzy camera, but I’m here to let you in on a not-so-secret tip to make your photos look much nicer. One of the first lessons most people are taught in photography to help create more balanced looking pictures is known as the Rule of Thirds. To follow this rule, you will need to imagine your image being divided by 2 horizontal, and 2 vertical lines, creating 9 evenly sized boxes (see the image that looks like a tic-tac-toe grid?). At the intersections of these lines, marked in the second image by green circles, are the places you want to center the focus of your photograph. Many digital cameras have the option to display a grid to help you with positioning you picture.

Placing the most important elements on the intersections usually creates photos that are more aesthetically pleasing. Below is an example photograph that follow the Rule of Thirds.

Don’t worry if your previous photographs don’t follow the Rule of Thirds. You can always go back and crop your images to make them just right. Take a look at the photo we fixed up by cropping off the edges.

Keep in mind that this rule is just a guideline.. Feel free to play around with other compositions to get the look you like. After all, you’re capturing sights and moments the way you want to remember them!