iPhone Rule of Thirds Grid Tutorial – Golden Ratio in Photography
In your iPhone camera settings you can toggle on Grid. Now when you open the camera, you have 4 lines across the screen. Why would you want that?
This grid helps you compose photos and videos by applying what’s known as the Rule of Thirds.
What’s the Rule of Thirds?
The Rule of Thirds is… a simplification of the Golden Ratio.
What’s the Golden Ratio?
Artists and mathematicians saw the golden ratio in nature and applied it to their work. It seems our minds are hardwired to subconsciously recognize this ratio. Images that conform to it are said to look more beautiful than those that don’t.
Actually, it’s quite simple to use. Just place objects of interest at the intersections of the lines.
Put your horizon on the top or bottom horizontal line. Put people on the left or right vertical line. Frame your shot so people’s eyes are on or close to the top line.
By the way, you don’t have to follow this rule
It’s just a guide to help you think about the way you frame your shots.
If you put objects in the centre of the frame, they dominate it. Centered objects force us to look at them, rather than contemplate the whole scene. Like when shooting you’re shooting a portrait.
Using the grid just helps you prioritise which objects in the frame you want to be the most important. And of course it helps you make more beautiful images and hold the viewer’s attention longer.
Here’s the most important rule though. It’s called the Rule of Using Your Own Eyes. If you line up the frame using the grid and it doesn’t look beautiful, don’t use it. Use your eyes. Your eyes know what’s beautiful more than 4 lines on a screen.
That’s why Apple invented the toggle switch.
(I know they didn’t really invent the toggle switch.)
Eager to learn more?
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Hi I been offer to do a documentary and film making on my mentalhealth and I don’t have a I phone pro got a I phone 5. I would like your advice on how to do it.