Other Restrictions

Yesterday I talked about how print size has so much influence over us. It's not just print size that holds us back today. There are so many unwritten laws and rules in photography that we almost feel subconsciously compelled to follow and live by these laws. The result is that every photograph has virtually the same underpinnings, created from the outset of subconscious composition. The most simply understood and implemented compositional technique is the rule of thirds, whereby the frame is divided up into a noughts and crosses grid and the main subject is placed on one of the four intersecting points. The advantage of this is that it creates non-bullseyed compositions that have a greater dynamicism than otherwise. However, the problem with the rule of thirds is that it has now become so widely used such now that every photograph I see has underpinnings from this technique. Compositional techniques should be learnt, and then forgotten, in order to avoid taking the exact same photograph the entire world has taken. I have this mentality about tourist sites and attractions. You see the tour bus pull up, everyone bails out and fights for position to take the same photograph as everyone else in the group and everyone else who has ever visited that place in the history of its existence. I would much rater not take any photograph than take the same one as everyone else.
I once read a tip for photographing mountain scenes that told me to only photograph the mountainside that was side-lit. Now this is fair enough and indeed the side-lit scene will have the greatest shape and textural quality, but I was slightly unnerved by the face that this 'rule' was having final say over my choice of subject matter. Surely choose the subject first and then wait for the light to come right, or come back at another time; but don't just give up on the place because the rule says so.

Have a great day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds