A line says a lot

There are a lot of rules when it comes to photography. One of the most common is the rule of thirds.

When most people take a photo they put the subject smack dab in the center of the photo. But when you look at a picture your eye does not like the center of the image. The rule of thirds helps locate the subject in a place where your eye naturally goes.

To use the rule of thirds, picture a grid system on your photo. Three rows of three across the horizontal length of the photo. Most people will put the subject in the center square. But a more appealing photo puts the subject anywhere BUT there.

That's probably the most well known 'rule'.

I read a lot of photography blogs. It's how I've learned about 40 percent of what I know about photography. (The other 60 percent is constantly taking a LOT of photos!) Awhile back, I read a blog post by Katelyn James about line. I searched her site for hours trying to find it for you. But I couldn't. So I'll paraphrase. She explained how she tries to incorporate line into her images. Line that draw your eye to the subject. And it made sense to me.

As I looked through my images, I noticed the same thing... So it might be easier to show you.

Ariell and Jared's arms draw you in...

as does the train of Allison's dress.

Or the trim on her '57 Chevy get-away car.

Or a deck railing.

This was the only horizontal line example I could find. I think it works better with horizontal or diagonal lines, but this still works.