- Let's talk about the rule of thirds.
(upbeat music)
You've probably heard of it, originally used by painters,
it has now been adopted by photographers and videographers.
The rule of thirds is a guide for composing an image.
So why is composition so important?
Because it allows you to emphasize the elements
of the image that you want your audience to focus on.
If you don't put any thought into composition,
your viewer won't know what the most important parts
of the image are and might end up focusing somewhere else.
But when you put thought into your composition,
you communicate, this is what I want you to look at.
Yes, putting just a little bit of thought
into how you compose your image goes a long way.
So in today's video, we're gonna talk
about one of the most common guides for composing an image,
the rule of thirds.
We're going to go over what it is,
how you can use it to make your videos look more cinematic,
and some of the most common mistakes that I see people make.
And if you stick around to the end,
I've got a little hack for you,
and I'm gonna show you how you can adjust your video
to use the rule of thirds in editing,
even if you weren't thinking
about it while you're were shooting.
To start off, what is the rule of thirds?
First of all, think of it more as a guide than a rule.
Even though I know guide of thirds doesn't have as much
of a nice ring to it.
To use the rule of thirds,
you draw an imaginary three by three grid over the frame
of your video, and then place the most important parts
of your image on the lines of the grid.
The points where the lines intersect
is where you really wanna focus.
And also if you're shooting a person,
a good rule of thumb is to line up their eyes
with the top line.
The basic idea is that you can create a more interesting
and dynamic image by placing the subject off center.
It's important because it really gets you thinking
about what you wanna communicate in a shot.
What are the most important elements
that you wanna focus on,
and what do you wanna put in the background?
You, as a cinematographer,
get to decide what the audience sees
and you can communicate a lot through good composition.
So how do you use the rule of thirds?
When you're shooting, a lot of cameras
and phones actually have a setting you can turn
on that puts the three by three grid over your image.
So this can be really helpful, especially if you're new
to using the rule of thirds.
So find that setting on your camera and turn it on,
and then you can start to line things up
with the lines on the grid.
And keep in mind you can utilize all of the lines
on the grid, you don't have to just pick one.
So for this example, we've got the person lined up
off center and then we'll line up the shoreline
with the grid as well.
Or if you have two people, you could group them together
or you can place them on separate lines on the grid.
So that's the basic idea.
And now the next thing I wanna cover is some
of the most common mistakes that I see people make
when they're just starting out using the rule of thirds.
I know I was guilty of making these,
so hopefully I can help you avoid them.
But before we get to the mistakes,
I just wanna let you know
that you should definitely subscribe to this channel
so you can keep getting daily videos
like this that help you create awesome content.
All right, now onto the mistakes.
The first mistake that I see a lot of people make
and one that I was definitely guilty of is using the rule
of thirds for every single shot you take.
When I first learned about the rule of thirds,
I basically thought it meant that I should throw centering
out the window and never use it again.
That's definitely not true.
Centering is still a great way to compose a lot
of shots and you can still use it.
But the rule of thirds is just another tool
that you can use, and it's actually good
to vary the way you're composing your shots.
The next mistake you want to avoid is using
the rule of thirds just for the sake
of using the rule of thirds.
You always wanna make sure there's a reason
behind the way you're composing a shot.
For example, let's say you have a shot of a person
against a blank wall and you decide to crop it and line up
the person with the rule of thirds grid.
Unless the blank wall is an important part of the story,
which is possible, we're not really gaining anything
by seeing more of the blank wall than the person.
So in this case, it might make sense just
to center the person.
On the other hand, let's say you have a shot
of a person looking at the ocean.
In this case, the rule of thirds makes sense
because moving the subject out of the center,
you get to see more of what she's looking at.
And the last mistake is putting the subject
just slightly off center, either you center the subject
or you go all the way to the rule of third (indistinct),
avoid doing something kind of in between.
It just ends up looking awkward.
All right.
Now, in order to show you how to effectively use
the rule of thirds, let's look at a few more examples.
I got all of these clips
from the library of free stock footage on InVideo.
So that's a quick little hack.
When you sign up for InVideo,
you get access to over 4,000 free stock videos
that you can use in your projects.
(calm music)
All right, now I'm gonna go over my editing hack
that you can use if you forgot to shoot
the rule of thirds in your camera.
Head over to InVideo.io and then sign up
for your free account.
And then we're gonna open a project.
On InVideo, you can turn on a grid
that you can use as a guide.
So here I have a clip of a person.
I'm going to go ahead and just delete the title
that's on here.
And right now she's centered in the frame,
but let's say I want this to be composed
using the rule of thirds.
So what you can do on InVideo is just click on the clip
and then just drag it out,
and that crops the image for you.
And then you can just crop in a little tighter
and then end up lining up your subject
with the rule of thirds.
So that's a really simple hack, really useful if you forgot
to shoot for the rule of thirds
or if you just wanna change your image while you're editing.
That's a quick rundown on the rule of thirds.
And now that you know a little bit more
about composing your shots,
you're definitely gonna wanna check
out this video where I show you five easy
cinematic transitions that you can apply to your videos.
If you like this video, be sure to subscribe to this channel
because we publish daily content creation tips like this,
and you don't wanna miss out.
Thank you so much for watching.
I'm (indistinct) with InVideo,
and I will see you in the next one.