Before I start, I want to say how much I appreciate all your lovely comments and entries for last week. I was hoping this challenge would be something you would seem to enjoy and from your comments this past few weeks that does indeed seem to be the case. You all warm my heart.
This week’s CCY Theme is Using 2/3 of your photo frame. Cee’s Compose Yourself Photo Challenge (CCY) will be a combination weekly “tips and tricks” combined with a photo challenge.
For your weekly assignment I would like to see at least 4-6 photos of photos taken with the 2/3 of the photo frame for your main subject. Please described what you learned in this lesson as well.
Each week I will select several features from everyone who submits an entry. And from those posts that I feature, I will grant one blogger the Gold Star Award. To find out who was awarded the Gold Star Award and Features for this week, please see CCY Week 9 – Gold Star Award and Features for Rule of Thirds Introduction.
Note: Participants who do not have at least 4 photo showing their attempt at this week’s topic in their post will not be featured nor be considered for the Gold Star Award.
Essay
As I promised in last week’s essay about the Rule of Thirds, I’m going to extend that discussion to cover what I call the Magic of Two-Thirds. Instead of putting your subject in one third of the frame, use two-thirds, leaving the rest bokeh or negative space to accent your subject.
As with the Rule of Thirds, you can use the upper or lower two-thirds or the left or right two-thirds. I use two-thirds a lot with my flower photography, so you’ll see a lot of examples here. It’s great to use for any still life photography.
You can use the top and bottom two-thirds, but I find those are harder for me to frame, especially using the top two-thirds. Top weighted photos can look a little awkward sometimes. They can be quite effective if done right.
But enough words… let’s turn to the things that say a thousand words… some pictures:
Left Two-Thirds: You’ll see me doing this quite often with my flower shots. The bokeh on the right helps define the image.
A different daffodil that takes up the right two-thirds. Reading from the right to left on this photo works because your eye naturally goes to the brightest spot which is on the right and then your eye will natural flow to the left.
Here’s another floral this time a dahlia. See how the blue background sets off the image? You can easily flip the picture and lead with your negative space. Flipping your photos horizontal works on most photos.
I find that using the bottom two-thirds is fun, too. I love this wood carving. Keeping a little negative space at the top of the frame makes you wonder what the man is looking at.
This picture is one of my all time favorites. These hands belong to a 93 year old woman whose wish was to get on a horse one last time. We were there to record that day for her. Her hand lovingly resting on the horse’s neck is made more dramatic by the blackness of the interior of the barn behind her. I like this so much that I’m using it for the badge for this challenge.
This picture has nothing to do with the essay, but I just thought you’d like to see the face that belongs with the hand.
Here’s one that’s bending the two-thirds rule a bit. Maybe it’s more like three-quarters. My point it that if I would have cropped out the one-third that is the sky, the shot of this Tacoma, WA (USA) high school wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting.
Now for a couple of top-weighted pictures:
Here’s an example of how I use this in flower photography to create an unusual view. For those who don’t recognize it, this is the underside of a tulip.
Here’s one that’s just fun. I put my cell phone against the wall and shot up toward the ceiling to grab a shot of this wall lamp. My phone is resting against a sign that said you couldn’t use cell phones, and the sign was covered in a clear plastic sheet that acted like a mirror.
And one last top weighted picture of a stormy sunset over the ocean…
Upcoming Challenges
- Week #10 Using 2/3 of your photo frame (current week)
- Week #11 On Center Point and Square photos
- Week #12 Critique My Work – I will give show you a couple of photos and you can either copy them and correct the compositional errors or write a post about how I got things wrong or right
- Week #13 Perspective
- Week #14 Symmetry
- Week #15 Cropping Tips
- Week #16 Intersections
Qi (energy) hugs
Cee
Cee's Photo Challenges 
Very nice:)
https://mukhamani.wordpress.com/2015/12/16/cees-compose-yourself-photo-challenge-week-10-using-23-of-your-photo-frame/
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Great photos Cee! I love the high school photo. It’s stunning. Below is my entry…
https://rluphoto.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/cees-compose-yourself-photo-challenge-week-10-using-23-of-your-photo-frame/
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uf, I was struggling here 🙂 – I had difficulties deciding which of the photos would qualify as 2/3 and often had the impression that my two-thirds rule was more of a coincidence than the justifiable move. Plus, I couldn’t find any examples of the right/left or top-weighted two-thirds among my photos. I guess it’s because I didn’t dare compositions like that. Now you made me think… 🙂 I will definitely try them out.
This is such an easy and clear way to learn. Big thanks for your effort.
http://lessywannagohome.blogspot.be/2015/12/23.html
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This is a single picture and a recycled post that I previously posted on My photo a day Blog. The dancers possibly don’t physically take up 2/3 of the available space in the shot but they move across 2/3 of the stage and I find my eye follows the picture right to left for two thirds of the picture as it moves with them. What do you think does it fit the task?
https://readerinspiredphotos.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/21-dance/
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https://nihongojapango.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/a-23-safari/ Please come on safari with me!
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Thinking hard about this one! I had some lovely shots lined up that I thought were 2/3 and then I realised the actual subject of the photo was only 1?3 and the space was two thirds. Though have to admit the space was pretty gorgeous too! Looking forward to spending time on this tomorrow.
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Thank you for your featuring my blog last week! 🙂 I’m glad you posted a photo of the 93-year-old woman who wanted to get up on the horse. That is amazing! I’m pretty sure that would be a pretty difficult task for me to do, and I’ve not reached that age yet. Your top-weighted photo of the stormy clouds over the ocean looks like some that could have been responsible for some of the heavy rains we have had recently. The clouds in the photo taken in Tacoma are pretty impressive too. Were they part smoke?
Here is my link. http://aseasonandatime.blogspot.com/2015/12/cees-compose-yourself-challenge-week-10.html
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The clouds in Tacoma where just that way. It was a fun day to be out taking photos.
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Your pics are always so cool, Cee!
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Thanks Sue.
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Here is mine: https://shareandconnect.wordpress.com/2015/12/10/cyy-week-10-using-23-of-your-photo-frame/
Great series, Cee! 🙂
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That sounds like a great story on the lady riding the horse one more time. It gets so easy to lose sight that the little things are what really makes for a good life.
I had fun getting ready for this challenge – my tries are at http://wp.me/p3CFsE-2k0
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That picture of the high school looks like Hill House from “The Haunting,” one of the few really scary ghost movies ever. GREAT picture.
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That school was in a movie, but I am not sure what movie. Thanks.
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I love your photo of the hands on the pony.
Here is my entry for this week’s challenge: http://wp.me/p24idL-3xM
Ω
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lovely series, again. here are mine https://juliepowell2014.wordpress.com/2015/12/09/cees-compose-yourself-challenge-top-of-bottom-thirds/
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The wall lamp shot is brilliant!!! 🙂
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Thanks Amy.
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Amazing photos Cee!!
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Thanks 😀
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Here are my entries for this challenge. I don’t really thing about the 2/3rds to much . I will now make an effort to shoot this way more often. Thanks for the tips!
https://giberson9.wordpress.com/2015/12/09/cees-compose-yourself-photo-challenge-week-10-using-23rds-of-your-frame/
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I love your images for this week, especially now that we’ve learned the backstory about the photo of the hands on the horse. What a treat it must have been to be there to capture to that! And now we can all enjoy it and be inspired by it.
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It was a wonderful moment of my life. It was late on a summer’s day (around 100 degrees yikes). There was a photographer from a local newspaper and he thought he got the ideal photo spot. I happened to stand slight in front her and looking into the horse arena and the background turned black and the low lighting hit perfectly. I was there for an organization that helped arrange the horse ride. My photos were a hit.
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My entry! https://themomhood.wordpress.com/2015/12/09/the-magic-of-two-thirds/
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I have loved that photo of the hand and now that I know a little more about the story behind it, I adore it even more. Its wonderful you were there to capture it happening. 93 years old and getting on a horse. All of your photos this week are amazing, I especially love the school and clouds. 🙂 I think I’m bringing back a little bit of summer with some flowers this week too! Can’t wait to share! 🙂
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I can’t wait to see what you come up with. The day I took the photos of Geraldine was a special day and marvelous photo shoot.
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The following is my contribution to this week’s topic:
https://cxianliu.wordpress.com/2015/12/09/two-third-of-photo-frame/
Enjoy!
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