Re: Rule of Thirds?

Angela M. Cable wrote:

[Snip http://www.psppower.com/2002may/crop2.htm]

> He's mixing his terminology. What he's doing is the Golden
> Section. Keep in mind that the Golden Section refers to a very
> specific rectangle, 1:1.618.

That is correct, but that is not what he does. If we divide a line in 
two parts and compare the parts, we have that

- Mathematical center is 1:1
- The Golden Section is 1:1.618...
- The Rule of Thirds is 1:2

He doesn't give his measurements and it's been too long before I 
learned about geometrics, but a quick measure gives approximately

- PSPPower: 1:2.57

That is so far off that I guess I've made an error somewhere.

> So unless your image is a rectangle of that proportion the Golden
> Section isn't going to work out exactly in any case.

He claims that it should - the rectangle won't be golden, but the 
golden areas can still be found.

> 35mm film is 24x36mm, which works out to
> 1:1.5, close but not the specific rectangle you need for a Golden
> Section. I expect that this is why the Rule of Thirds came about,
> you can apply it to *any* rectangle. 

As I see it, the Golden Section can still be used in a non-golden 
rectangle: The Golden Mean in itself is about dividing lines. But in 
order to get a "true" Golden Section, the whole crop needs to be a 
Golden Rectangle.
-- 
Toke Eskildsen - http://ekot.dk/