Rule of thirds intersection of two of the lines, close enough to take advantage of the rule. The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section. The main reason for observing the rule of thirds is to discourage placement of the subject at the center, or prevent a horizon from appearing to divide the picture in half. Michael Ryan and Melissa Lenos, authors of the book "An Introduction to Film Analysis: Technique
Rule of thirds as a rule for the proportion of warm to cold colors in a painting, and attributes to Smith the expansion of that rule to all proportions in painting: Sir Joshua has given it as a rule, that the proportion of warm to cold colour in a picture should be as two to one, although he has frequently deviated therefrom; and Smith, in his "Remarks on Rural Scenery," would extend a like rule to all the proportions of painting, begging for it the term of the "rule of thirds," according to which, a landscape, having one third of land, should have