In this series of pictures I will illustrate some fundamental guidelines for effective composition. Nothing of this sort is absolute, but these guidelines have been proven as solid fundamentals by visual artists for centuries.

The first of these is "the rule of thirds". In this case the scene is divided by two equally spaced lines, two vertical, and two horizontal. The interesections of these points is where the center(s) of interest in a scene should be placed.

Note how this picture of a reflected barn on Boxley Mill Pond uses this rule. The barn is centered both on top and in the reflection using these lines. The tree on the right side of the barn follows the right third line as well.