Are you familiar with the “rule of thirds” in photography? How about adjusting your focal point manually? If not, get ready for a whole new world to open up in your photos!

My first daughter was born in the fall of 2006 and my push/Christmas gift was my first DSLR. Lucky girl, I know! Two new babies to love, lol!

I quickly realized the photos I envisioned capturing of my new baby with my brand new camera just were NOT happening. Total blur. Underexposed. Overexposed. Bleh. Nothing felt comfortable or natural those first few weeks of having that camera. I needed a class to learn how to use the camera if I was ever going to be happy using it.

So that’s exactly what I did all those wonderful years ago! And I can honestly say that learning to shoot manual made my colorful world such a happy, happy place! Two of the tips I learned in that first class were about the rule of thirds and adjusting my focal point. Now, I rarely compose a shot without using both of those – visually composing my shot with a tic tac toe grid and adjusting my focal point, almost always onto one of the thirds lines or the sweet spot of where those lines intersect.

Not sure how to do it? I use a Canon 60D, and it was relatively the same on my Rebel XTi. Hope it helps you!

1. Click on the zoom in button in the right hand corner

2. You’ll see the Automatic selection screen come up showing all the focal points colored blue:

3. Use either wheel to move the selection to just one of the points:

4. This is the focal point I used for the rose image above 🙂

5. Using the rule of thirds — the tic tac toe grid lines that break your image into three rows and three columns — visually on your image helps as well, giving a stronger composition to your photos. The point I selected above coordinates with the focal point I used for the rose. Do you see the faint grid lines below?

6. Using any of these four focal points gets you on or near the intersection of the rule of thirds lines. That right there? That’s the sweet spot! Aim for THAT!  {Juicy tip, right?! Click to Tweet!}

Did you find this information helpful? I’d love to share more tips with you in the future, so be sure to subscribe to Clicky Chick Creates newsletter! You’ll get a great little freebie download as my thank you. What’s the freebie? My go-to shot list: 7-must get photos for kid birthdays!

As always, thanks for stopping by. Have a joyful, creative, blessing filled day!
xoxo,
/c

PS. Do you love roses? Check out my collection and buy a print in my Society6 shop!

PPS. This post was inspired by the Daily Post weekly photo challenge: rule of thirds!

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