Rule of Thirds -- when to break it?

. So in a way, a balanced picture where the subject is off center, creates a better emphasis on the main subject even though it's off center as long as other elements balance the composition.

I'm sorry, but after reading the above several times, it is as clear as mud. If the subject is off centre in accordance with the rule of thirds, then it is not a perfectly balanced image.



I never mentioned rule-of-thirds. I was talking about balance. I said that if the main subject is on one side, it should be balanced against something on the other side. Re-read the last sentence in my last post.

I did read your last sentence. There is NO balanced picture if "the subject is off center" and there is no balance because other elements cannot equally balance the subject.
 
Learn it, and like some others have said, you will know better when and when not to break it. I personally find it useful to break it in one dimension and not the other. For example, if you have a bird perched on a post, you can easily center a horizon or treeline in the BG, but you want to keep the bird to one side or the other.

One example of when it makes sense to break it is in a water reflection shot, when you're trying to do a mirror image.
 
$sailboat north wind.JPG
 
I see a lot of 2,500 + posters on here who still have that problem.

Lots of posters here like to talk the talk but when it comes to walking the walk....

Well considering almost a 1/4 million views of my gallery, I walk the walk.

There are lots of reasons why your gallery might have many views. Citing this as an example of why you're right is a particularly poor example of the "appeal to authority" logical fallacy.

Your remarks about there being no way to balance a picture with an off-center subject appear to be complete nonsense, but as your writing is generally opaque, I'm not actually sure if the intended meaning is nonsense, or merely the actual words you used to try to convey that meaning.

I still have no idea which rule of thirds you're even talking about, despite having asked you directly and been ignored.

I apologize for sounding somewhat testy here, I am somewhat testy.
 

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