Software Quick Tip: Make Your Own Rule of Thirds Grids in PS, PSE9+ and PSP

The first principle of composition that most of us learn is the Rule of Thirds. This rule says that when you divide a page into thirds both horizontally and vertically, you should place the things you want the most emphasis on along one of the lines or at the intersection of two lines.

Most of us can imagine these “tic tac toe” lines in our heads, but sometimes it’s helpful to have them drawn on the page as you create a layout. You could draw them with a brush on a layer you can turn on and off, but there’s an even better way! Below are instructions for Photoshop, Photoshop Elements (9 and up) and PSP for creating your own Rule of Thirds grid.

Adobe Photoshop:

In the Menu Bar go to View> Show> Grid and click on it to show the grid. In the Menu Bar go to Edit> Preferences> Guides, Grid & Slices and a dialog box will appear. In the area marked Grid, change the number under Gridline Every: to 4 and if it’s not selected choose inches from the dropdown menu next to the number. (*Note: If you’re making an 8-by-8-inch page, put 2.66 in the number box.) Right underneath that change Subdivisions: to 1. If you like, you can change the color to something that shows up well on your page, just click on the color sample at the right. You can also change the Style from Lines to Dashed Lines to Dots. I like Dashed Lines because I think they get in my way the least. Click OK to save your changes.

click image to enlarge

Now you will see the Rule of Thirds lines on your page! To turn them off quickly, hold your CTRL key and press the ‘ (apostrophe key). This will toggle the grid on and off, so you can turn it on when you need it and off when you’re done! No matter what document you have open, it will show the lines in perfect thirds when you use this shortcut.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 9+:

In the Menu Bar go to View> Grid and click on it to show the grid. In the Menu Bar go to Edit> Preferences> Guides & Grid and a dialog box will appear. In the area marked Grid, change the number under Gridline Every: to 4 and if it’s not selected choose inches from the dropdown menu next to the number. (*Note: If you’re making an 8-by-8-inch page, put 2.66 in the number box.) Right underneath that change Subdivisions: to 1 If you like, you can change the color to something that shows up well on your page, just click on the color sample at the right. You can also change the Style from Lines to Dashed Lines to Dots. I like Dashed Lines because I think they get in my way the least. Click OK to save your changes.

click image to enlarge

Now you will see the Rule of Thirds lines on your page! To turn them off quickly, hold your CTRL key and press the ‘ (apostrophe key). This will toggle the grid on and off, so you can turn it on when you need it and off when you’re done! No matter what document you have open, it will show the lines in perfect thirds when you use this shortcut.

Corel’s Paint Shop Pro:

• Go to File > Script > Run and find the Guide – Rule of Thirds and Open (it comes with your PSP).
• If you work with the Script Toolbar open, just find the Guide – Rule of Thirds in the drop down list and hit the Run arrow.
• This will automatically place the horizontal and vertical guides on your image, no matter its size.
• Since you probably do not want to snap to them, make sure that the Snap to Guides is UNchecked (View > Snap to Guides).
• And, if you want to hide the guides at any point during your work, just UNcheck the Guides in View > Guides.

Rule of Thirds Grid Tips:

• Try putting the grid over some of your existing layouts, ones you love or ones you hate! Do they conform to this rule or not? Would moving things make it better?
• You can use this grid to help you crop photographs, too. Try cropping different ways using the lines as guides to where you want your subject or focal point to be.
• In outdoors photographs, try cropping with the horizon on one of the two horizontal lines. Sometimes just moving the horizon up or down even a little will make a better composition.