Reacties

                                                                                                                                                                                                              update: 23 sept. 2010

• Generally many photographers would refer to the "rule of thirds" and I can say out of experience that this rule is off by far. I'd recommend the diagonal method, normally a pleasing photograph has some key elements falling along those lines. reference: http://www.diagonalmethod.info/. Markus Hartel (From an interview in Digital Photographer, issue 74.)

• Thanks K. I had never heard of the Diagonal Method, and I found that very interesting reading. Afterwards, I studied some of my photos and several other pieces of art by other (better) photographers and artists. Perhaps I reverse engineered the process, but I made note of the exact spot on each photo to which my eye was initially drawn. Mona Lisa's famous smile is a perfect example. I then applied a template to each image to see if, in fact, a diagonal line actually did pass through that point. In almost every example, one did. The diagonal method appears to be the real deal. Next, I opened some of my images that for some unknown reason just didn't seem quite right. I then cropped them so that the intended "focal point" was aligned with a diagonal line. Voila! The images (to my eye anyway) were instantly improved. Now I'm eager to try this method of composition through the viewfinder during an existing-light 6x6 portrait shoot that I have coming up.

• Thanks again, Thom.

  • "In a magazine I was reading today I saw a reference to a photographer using "the diagonal method" of composition. Now, I've been aware of "thirds" for many years but this was new to me. There is an explanation of it at www.diagonalmethod.info. Are other people aware of this theory and what do they think? Sorry if this has come up before but I didn't have much joy using the 'search' facility"."I was not really aware of this...but it is very interesting..I like how they explain what is going on and if you think about the composition make not only sense but maybe very appealing ...At least to my eye. Great article thank you...Jerry.")

• (Interesting article, I heard about this before but couldn't find it anymore.Many thanks for the "Rule of Thirds and Diagonal" link - Antoinette. Very interesting reading.  ALL information is valuable.  You can choose to implement it or not, but it is still valuable -Tom.

  • It is not the rules that make good pictures, it is good pictures that make the rules- The Traveler")

  • The golden number, the rule of thirds, that's old school! :roll eyes: :p

  • In this new millennium, we're talking "Diagonal"! :bug eyes: Go here (http://www.diagonalmethod.info/) and discover the new trend in composition/design. :D)

  • In de portretshoot-documentatie gaat het o.a over de diagonaal methode. Startend linksboven zou het krachtigst zijn, maar zo'n foto had ik zo snel niet. Zou dit een compositie kunnen zijn/worden via DM? Ik heb geprobeerd het oog op 1e te zetten. De ruimte zit misschien wel aan de verkeerde kant..")

• Ich hab grad einen Hirnkrampf. Für eine Broschur möchte ich den Satzspiegel im goldenen Schnitt anlegen. Hat auch über die Diagonal-Methode gut funktioniert. Jetzt merke ich aber, dass ich ihn noch etwas größer haben will.

  • "Il taglio di una parte, non toglie nulla a una foto se la composizione é corretta, tenendo conto che é "street", e a  proposito di composizione, la regola dei terzi ad ogni costo, é si la pù semplice da applicare, ma é abusata, esistono altre e altrettanto valide regole compositive da usare, fra le varie spesso quando posso (provo), ma non in questo caso, ad usare  il diagonal method di www.diagonalmethod.info.

  • And here is the "Diagonal Method" that I like to use.

  • Dan beveel jij dus de onbewuste diagonaalmethode aan, als ik het goed begrijp. En dus toch niet ver gezocht......Karel. Ik kan mij er iets bij voorstellen: een archetype van de fotografie.")

  • I recently found this interesting article about a rule for composition:

  • If anybody wants to add these diagonals to the list of Composition Guides it is easily done by opening the file C:/Program Files/Digital Light & Color/Picture Window Pro 4.0/PWCompositionGuides and adding the following text -

  • begin_object. name "Thirds - Diagonals"

  • line 0.0 0.0 0.6667 1.0

  • line 0.0 1.0 0.6667 0.0

  • line 0.3333 0.0 1.0 1.0

  • line 0.3333 1.0 1.0 0.0

  • end_object. This will display the diagonals for a 2:3 format image. For 3:4 images the numbers 0.25 and 0.75 should be substituted for 0.3333 and 0.6667. An interesting article and perhaps the Diagonal Method does have some validity as in this subconsciously cropped [4x6 ratio] and composed image example of two loons)

  • The reason that I selected that particular site is that it also has links to "Golden Ratio" ans "Diagonal Method." There are certainly many rules of composition, and they should be regarded more as guidelines than as rules.")

  • This man claims he found a new method which does - and it sure sounds very plausible.

  • Dolcemente. Alors, là, chapeau...tu m'époustoufles...quitte à me répéter, toutes tes dernières compo suivent la règle des diagonales, et cela fonctionne nickel. En plus, je sens une meilleure maîtrise dans le post-traitement...comme le bon vin, tu bonifies...

  • I agree. The Diagonal Method is perhaps my favorite.

• Glad it worked out, and I agree about the 'diagonal method': the guy that noticed and documented that should win some sort of prize.Dan.

• The unspoken truth about the "rule" of "thirds"! I always looked at it as a sort of general, approximate rule, and now I see why. The Japanese have an interesting take on this in the Bansai (bonzai) buns eye principle. They should stop buggering whales, tho.

  • Diagonal Method This grid is based on the work made by Edwin Westhoff on his Diagonal Method. I really encourage you to read everything there... his findings are amazing!!!The diagonal lines are adjusted properly to correlate the difference between the photograph aspect (4:3) to the EVF/LCD (3:2). Added by Marcelo espinosa.

  • I am interested in portrait photography and I found very good results with the diagonal method crop. This method looks very easy to implement, but for some reason it is  not available for Gimp. I can't even find any plugin which. Norman.

  • Interesting composition/cropping technique that goes way beyond the rule of thirds. Pretty darned advanced, but Adobe Lightroom now has a diagonal overlay to aid in cropping, so that could help if I ever buy Lightroom. Les Jones.

  • I came across the diagonal method just yesterday and I believe it is brilliant!! At leastI've noticed that without having a clue it existed before the diagonals coincide with the important elements on many of my photos -- to an almost scary precision =). Ivan (by e-mail).

  • Thank you for your work research and for sharing it. DM makes MUCH more sense to me as an engineer than the rule of thirds which I often found was complete BS. Regards Bo (by e-mail).

  • This was a fantastic article. I just went to LR [Adobe Lightroom] and viewed some of my favorite photos with the diagonal crop overlay on. Wouldn't you know it, they fall right in line with what this article points out. Walton Studio.

  • These are fine examples of the Rule of Thirds with bigger subjects. With small details in the

  • photograph like eyes, the Diagonal Method works better. Anonymous from "Photospot".

  • My photography teacher taught me another 'rule' a few months ago. He created this method and wrote an article about it. It might be interesting to read it, because he did some good

  • research. Youri.

• This man is a brilliant photographer who has  a very interesting and frequently overlooked theory oncomposition. Dolcemente.

• Plus, the rule-of-thirds is a bit overblown, IMO. I was turned on to the diagonal method last year, and I think it's improved my compositions. http://www.diagonalmethod.info/ 

• In fact, Lightroom has a crop overlay for the diagonal method. Brett.

• I want to thank you so much for sharing your work on the diagonal method. I am just starting to learn to draw and paint and have been working on a composition for my first watercolor. I thought I had covered all the bases, but when I applied the rule of thirds, I found that my focal point was too high. No matter what I did, I couldn't fathom moving the little boy down the ladder because my goal was to show him going high while his grandpa looked on.

  • After drawing the diagonals as you suggested, I could see that if I moved the diagonal to the right it would sail right through the little boy, so I simply trimmed  3/4" down the left side of the picture.  This put both him and Grandpa on the diagonal and gave the overall dimensions a perfect 2:3 ratio!

  • While you said the method wasn't for creating composition, I feel it improved it quite a bit, as it seems to give the little boy the prominence I hoped for.

  • Thank you VERY much.

  • Diane, Florida (e-mail)

• Haven't you guys heard? The rule of thirds has officially been replaced. There's a new sheriff in town and it's called the Diagonal Method.

• http://www.diagonalmethod.info/

  • But yes...most "rules" tend to be overrated in the forumsDrew A.

• Die diagonaal methode is echt heel verrassend. Geeft een heel andere kijk op fotograferen. 

  • Chrissy Bing, 30-07-2009

  •  

•