rule of thirds....

[jax314]

Wheat exactly should be positioned where when applying the rule of thirds in portraits?? Is it the bridge of the nose? Here, I tried to use that rule, but then I thought I would cut off certain things on her coat that are cute...like the hood and zipper puff ball....

How could I have applied that rule to make this more striking?



f/5.6
ISO 400
1/50


Thanks,

[jax314]

I tried this, but I think this may to be too much cropping for my 12 MP D5000...



Jaxon

[AmberTillman]

Hi Jax,

Thanks for posting. Eyes are generally the thing you focus on in terms of composition if your positioning your subject with the rule of 3rds. I don't think it is necessary here. She is entirely in focus. She is the center of attraction. And that is ok. Rules are made to be broken sometimes And you have to decide where you want people's eyes to go.

To answer your question:
To make it more interesting, perhaps you could play with white balance, or simply switch your angle. I think in terms of color, most of the picture is a little boring, off white coat, gray backdrop, etc.
What that does for me is make her little pink nose and pink shirt pop, which aren't your focus. But that is where my eyes go because of the other muted colors.

On another note, very cute little one, and I really like her facial expression. try making this one black and white and see what that does with the color and making it more interesting. I do think there may not be enough contrast as is, but maybe you could play with too.

[LoveDSLR]

You can try using this tool: Composition Adjuster

For example:

[jax314]

Thanks guys!! This is why I love posting here!! Very helpful!!

[Benji]

In portraiture the rule of thirds generally applies to the placement of the eyes in the frame. Usually the eyes are positioned 1/3rd of the way down from the top. By "the top" I mean the top of the image not the top of the head. In portraiture you usually want to "give them room to think" meaning there should be some empty space above the head. There should also be "room to breathe" meaning there should also be some empty space in front of and behind the subject. If the image is full length, there should also be some empty space under their feet.

Benji