Okay, so today I wanted to mess around with the “rule of thirds” in photography, and I figured, why not use the Black Panther as my subject? It’s just something I’ve been meaning to try out.
First, I grabbed my Black Panther action figure. It’s one of those really detailed ones, pretty cool. I set it up on my desk, which is where I do most of my experiments and stuff. I wanted to get that dramatic, cinematic look, you know? I cleared the desk so it doesn’t distract from the image. It is a clean desk without anything. My next step is finding a good spot for my figure.
I played around with the lighting for a while. I’ve got this one desk lamp that I can move around and adjust the brightness. I tried putting the light behind him, to the side, above, the usual stuff. It took me a bit to get the shadows just how I wanted them. It was actually a little annoying at times. But I persisted until I get the perfect lighting.
Then came the camera angle. I used my phone camera for this. I started by positioning the Black Panther figure along the intersecting points of the grid lines, like the rule of thirds suggests. I took a bunch of shots from different angles – low angle, eye-level, slightly above. Moving my phone around, trying to find that sweet spot. Experimenting with the angles really changed the feel of the photo. The low-angle shots made him look really powerful, almost like a real scene in a movie. Switching between portrait and landscape mode.
- Placing the figure on the left side of the frame.
- Trying it on the right.
- Putting it in the bottom third, top third.
- Moving it to the bottom right.
- Moving it to the top left.
- Moving it to the top right.
- Moving it to the bottom left.
Honestly, it took longer than I thought it would. It’s not as easy as those online tutorials make it seem. I took probably like 50 pictures, just tweaking things here and there. I kept adjusting the lighting, the angle, the figure’s pose a little bit. Each change makes a difference. So I kept doing it until I’m satisfied.
After I was done shooting, I looked through all the photos on my phone. I picked out a few that I thought looked the best, the ones where the composition felt right, you know? I did a little bit of editing, just adjusting the contrast and brightness a bit, nothing too crazy. Just enhance it a little bit.
It was a fun little project. I’m definitely no pro, but it was cool to see how following this simple rule could actually make a difference in how the photos turned out. It’s something I’ll keep in mind for sure. Even for a simple toy, it feels like an actual art now.