Wanderfull's Wanderings: Photography Rules: Rule of Odds

Monday, September 11, 2017

Photography Rules: Rule of Odds

A photography group I belong to suggested for our next meeting in October that everyone talk about a photography rule. My assigned topic was the Rule of Odds.

Of course, my brain went a little far of field...

"May the odds be ever in your favor. The odds are never in your favor." -- Hunger Games

"Against all odds." -- Movie title

"Never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds." -- Jesse Jackson

"Never tell me the odds." -- Hans Solo, Star Wars.

Getting back on track, and consulting the Google Oracle, I found the following definition for ...

Rule of odds – The rule of odds states that images are more visually appealing when there is an odd number of subjects. For example, if you are going to place more than one person in a photograph, don’t use two, use 3 or 5 or 7, etc. ...Studies have shown that people are actually more at ease and comfort when viewing imagery with an odd number of subjects. -- Four Rules of Photographic Composition - Elizabeth Halford

It's suggested that the odd number is always three. A Ted Forbes' video tutorial and a website called Composition Study (links at the bottom of this blog) both suggest that three is the ideal odd number.

Going through my older photos I found I am mostly drawn to the number 4 or 1 or crowds. Go figure. Anyway, here are some photos that fit the rule of odds. You can decide whether these are more pleasing and comfortable and interesting -- odd number out. [Click on the first photo to start a slideshow of larger images.]