People often refer to “the classic rules of photography”: “This photo follows the classic rules…” or “he/she broke all the classic rules…” etc. But what are those “classic rules” anyway? I gave it some thought and came up with the following five rules, all longstanding and time-honoured, like you would expect when something is called classic. But nothing is set in cement and rules such as these have been violated with superb results over and over again. But they are also there for a reason, since they probably represent something that most people mostly find pleasing most of the times. Not everybody all the time. So what are they, these classic rules of photography:
Rule #1 : F/8 And Be There!
This is rule number one and it has little to do with your camera and technical proficiency, as is the case with the other four rules. Read this rule again, breath it and live it. As simple as it sounds, it is the most important of all rules in photography.
The part about f/8 refers to a camera setting, or rather a lens aperture setting. It’s a technical detail and it’s not really important. But at the same time it’s what makes this rule so memorable.
It’s not a bad advice using f/8, it’s a pretty standard value and often safe to use if you want to be sure to get your subject in focus without giving it much thought.