Composition tip: The Diagonal Method

Friday 16 May 2025, 16:16 by Elja Trum | 3,108 views | 0 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

The Diagonal Method is a variation on the Rule of Thirds. The rule was discovered by photographer Edwin Westhoff, who found the Rule of Thirds inaccurate. With the Diagonal Method, you draw lines from the corners of the image at an angle of 45 degrees.

Roxanne - Diagonal Method
The intersections of the lines then form the locations where important elements from the image are placed. The lines themselves can also be useful guides.

In my view, this method is not really more accurate than the Rule of Thirds, but it is much more difficult to apply in practice (live).

Want to learn more about the Diagonal Method? Edwin explains his discovery on a special website about this method at diagonaalmethode.weebly.com.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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