Rule of thirds for panoramic

[Clockdoc I]

When I was trying to crop this I keep feeling the way you do, that the water was as interesting as the sky and that down the middle looked better to me. Maybe I will try a crop between a third and half.

Originally Posted by wulf

I see that I'm swimming against the flow on this one: I prefer the original version, with two even blocks of sea and sky. The dividing point could perhaps be a little lower, as the hills intrude onto the sky which makes the darker portion of the image take up more than half the space but I think the result is more striking than 2/3 | 1/3.

In other words, if it were my image, I would be drawn to playing with treating the image as two vertically hinged panels instead of thinking so much about the rule of thirds.

Wulf

[wulf]

I would crop nearer the halfway mark than a third. The hills in the distance seem to belong to the lower section and so, rather than putting the halfway point along the top of the water, I would edge it a bit higher, trying to visually assess the balance of dark land and water and lighter sky.

Wulf

[Clockdoc I]

Originally Posted by wulf

I would crop nearer the halfway mark than a third. The hills in the distance seem to belong to the lower section and so, rather than putting the halfway point along the top of the water, I would edge it a bit higher, trying to visually assess the balance of dark land and water and lighter sky.

Wulf

I have cropped like you said, the top of the island on the far is the half way point now. What do you think.

[wulf]

To my eye, that definitely has the best balance of all three. What about you? What do you think (it being your photo, after all)?

Wulf

[Clockdoc I]

Originally Posted by wulf

To my eye, that definitely has the best balance of all three. What about you? What do you think (it being your photo, after all)?

Wulf

I quess you can never go wrong following the rules, but I think that it has a better balance cropping it your way. Thank you for your help

[wulf]

Originally Posted by Clockdoc I

I quess you can never go wrong following the rules, but I think that it has a better balance cropping it your way. Thank you for your help

I would go further than that and say you can definitely go wrong following the rules if you apply them mechanically. With a rule like a speed limit, you're either following it or breaking it, and could receive a penalty for breaking it if you are caught. With rules of photography, you pick which of the common guidelines you want to apply and then put your work on display for others to see. You can't put numbers on it and thus it is a completely different sense of the word "rule".

Wulf

[Mr.Intensity]

I'd but sky+clouds and boats- waves maybe, but not just a lot of still ,heavy water in a foreground. I guess it's about what you like?

[Lori Kean]

Originally Posted by Clockdoc I

Thanks for your help here it is with less water

I like this one better...much nicer photo.

[scottcoulter]

Originally Posted by Clockdoc I

Thanks for your help here it is with less water

The huge difference in this one (and to some extent the other crop you did later) as compared to the original, is that here you left in the darker clouds at the top, whereas in the first crop the lightest clouds run my eye right out of the top of the image. The structure of the clouds here is much better, with the brightest part nicely framed.

[alecloudenback]

With my own experience, I have found that the rule of thirds does apply to panoramas.

See here:



Larger version here Warning: HUGE PICTURE, 9.4 MB
or here (50 Kb)

This picture has two spots where the rule of thirds is in effect: the silhouette of the foreground are at the bottom third and the mountains peaks to the right are located around the top third.

In regards to your picture Clockdoc, I think the crop with the horizon line at the bottom third is the best for your image, it draws the eyes to the boats and balances nicely with the larger sky.