The Golden Ratio

In this day and age when just about everyone easily can publish images, social media platforms enables this, and everyone through their cellulars have a digital camera at hand we are flooded with pictures of various quality. Although anyone can take a photo not everyone should, there are many lacking knowledge on how to compose a good image. Someone said just the other day that there were huge differences between his photos and the ones taken by a photographer, but he had no idea why this was.

To create a harmonius picture you need to think about where things are placed within the frame. The first rule of engagement is to learn and use The Golden Ratio. This is something that was known already by the ancient Greeks, so it's not some modern idea but something that has been adhered to for millennia by painters, architects and mathematicians to name a few. Actually it's something you even can find everywhere in nature as well.

The Golden Ratio is not a difficult thing to learn either, you can see it as "the two thirds rule" if you want to. Put into words A+B is to A as A is to B. In practical terms, divide the image into three thirds and put the horizon, buildings, people or whatever the motif is in one third or on the dividing line (imaginary line that is). Below are two examples of this placement.

Please note that the two thirds rule isn't exactly the same as The Golden Ratio, but it's a working approximation that will help you generate better photos.