Most people are at least somewhat familiar with the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is utterly ubiquitous: Every movie and TV show makes almost constant use of it, and professional photographers avoid putting the subject in the center of the frame almost without exception. To understand it, draw two lines through a photo, dividing it into thirds. This turns it into something like a tic-tac-toe board, as you see .

At its essence, the rule of thirds says that you'll get the most interesting photos when your subject isn't in the center of the frame, but rather is positioned off-center, to the left, right, up, or down. You can position your subject at any of the four intersection points of the third lines, or along one of the four lines, like the birds .

Here's another trick using lines: If you want to add a sense of drama to your photograph, look for ways to incorporate a diagonal. Draw a mental line from one corner of the scene to the other; if you can find some element in the situation that more or less follows this line, it can make your shot more dynamic and add some energy to the scene, almost as if it's pulling the viewer through the scene. The diagonal can run the entire length of the photo, as it does .