Photography's rules

Rules are everywhere. Rules are the force that keeps things going - sometimes we are aware of them, sometimes we are not, sometimes we obey them, sometimes we don’t. Believe it or not, rules can be found even in art: writing has rules, poetry has rules, music has rules, painting has rules. So has photography.

The photography’s rules as: “rule of the thirds”, “rule of odds”, “rule of diagonal” and so on, are there for long time and have been followed by photographers around the world. But compared with other rules, photography rules are not that strict. It is better for everybody to treat those rules more as a guidance rather than rules that “must” be followed.

Simplified explanation of rule of the thirds

If one doesn’t follow the rules of the road, accidents can happen, possible fatal accidents. If one doesn’t follow photography rules, nobody dies. If one doesn’t follow physics rules, the launching of spaceship will fail. By not following the photography rules, the only thing that might happen is aesthetic damage.

Simplified explanation of rule of odds

Photography is a new art form (yes, it is an art!), compared with painting or music and this has some advantages. The first photographers had the chance to apply in practice “rules” learned from other visual arts, like painting, which helped to create more aestethic images. It’s up to each individual to follow or not the rules in photography but if they are treated as a guidance only, these rules can help improve images and in the end it is this aestethic part that pleases and engages with the viewer.

P.S. The photography’s rules might be the subject of further post.