This is my attempt to illustrate three principles of proper photography using stock images from Unsplash.com. I found photos that illustrate the principles of depth of field, leading lines, and the rule of thirds.

Depth of Field

Credit: Photo by Julia Solonina on Unsplash
https://unsplash.com/photos/P-SZB0nnl1w

The first principle that I wanted to illustrate was the depth of field. I found a great landscape photo on Unsplash that is of the castle Burg Eltz, in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. I didn’t realize when I saw it, but I actually visited there when I was a full-time missionary for the Church some years ago.

The photographer took the picture from a distance and then shot it through the trees and brush which adds depth to the image and the sense of distance. (see my poorly scribbled lines to help show the objects at different depths.)

Leading Lines

Credit: Photo by Matt Holmes on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/J48Jy7mg43s

For the leading lines principle, I found a picture of a number of buildings in an undisclosed location. The photographer made good use of the edges of the awnings and the angle of the buildings’ roofs help to point the viewer to the center of the image.

Rule of Thirds

Credit: Photo by Matt Holmes on Unsplash
https://unsplash.com/photos/rpJVFkyeiDA

For the principle of the rule of thirds, I found a lovely landscape photo that clearly shows the rule of thirds. It has the main image in the center grid of images and the intersect of the lines.

My attempt at using the Rule of Thirds in my photography

I took the picture in the morning, trying to capture the golden light that was discussed in the textbook reading, but it’s winter, so the light seemed a little hard to me. I used the grid overlay on my camera to center the two benches that my parents sit on when the weather is nice. I think that I illustrated the rule of thirds well and correctly.

Summary

I found that once I started looking at professionally taken photos, the rules discussed in the textbook readings were followed in a lot of them. It wasn’t hard to find good examples of the various rules and I think that now that I know what I’m looking for, I will notice the rules far more often.