Interpretations

Sorry I've been away

2008-08-24T12:07:00.001-07:00

This little guy has been keeping me busy so it has been hard to take time to blog. I have made sure to point my camera at him regularly, but haven't taken the time for much other photography lately.

How are you guys feeling about this blog? Are you sad that we have been so inactive with it for a while? Jan and I started this blog and she has had to move on with other things, and I have just had a baby. When the two of us don't post, it seems like it is hard for others to post. Talk to me. Does anyone else want to be the 'leader' who always posts on time and decides on the themes? Are you guys okay with letting it go? Even if you aren't a contributor, just an observer, let me know what you think. If it is important to enough people, I really want to continue with it, but if I am just adding pressure to talk to myself, it may not be worth it. I have learned alot of things as I have tried to improve my photography. I started learning manual settings almost a year ago, and have only had my new camera for 8 months and I am thrilled with all I have learned. This site has helped me get several shots that I will always treasure just because I had a challenge to do it.

But, is there anyone there? How do you feel about this blog? Have you enjoyed it? Do you visit it? Has it inspired you? Have you learned anything as I have? Are you sad when noone posts, or am I just talking to myself? Please help me decide whether or not it is worth it to continue putting time into this blog.

Talk to me...

new

2008-08-23T12:49:00.000-07:00

SS 1/160, ISO 200, f/2

personality

2008-08-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

backlighting

2008-08-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

I only had my little point and shoot for this shot, but still managed to get a decent one. (I love it).

SS 1/12, f/2.9, ISO 400

Should be in a magazine

2008-06-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

Should be in a Magazine

2008-05-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

f: 1.8, SS: 200, ISO:200

SS: 320, ISO: 200, f: 1.8

I am skipping this weeks chronological series since I won't be available next week, I am posting next week's photos instead. This is my take on what should be in a magazine.

Window

2008-05-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

f4 SS1/10 ISO 320

Taken for fun but then I saw the theme for this week and thought it fit into this category perfectly.

Shoot From Behind

2008-05-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

Here is my "shoot from behind" photo. I had the idea to put him in front of the mirror and get more of his back but still focus on his reflection. I was too nervous to leave him there for too long so here is my best shot.

f2.8 SS1/15 ISO320

Shooting from behind

2008-05-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of my cute little fattie. We love all her rolls and wanted to capture them.

This is my take on Personality

2008-05-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

This is my daughter Maddie.

Personality

2008-05-13T16:08:00.001-07:00

I love the look they are giving each other in this picture. It really shows both of their personalities. I love their eye contact. Sierra was sitting there while I was taking her picture and her uncle sits down to be funny and she is giving him a look like "what are you doing here?"

Shot taken in manual mode
f4.5 1/400 ISO 400

Personality & Places I love

2008-05-10T12:06:00.001-07:00

This one I have for places that I love, last week, Anywhere my baby is, is a place I love.
These are my pictures for personality. My brother and his son the yesterday at his graduation.

This is one last one for a place I love. Watching my nephew try to mimic the way my brother walked and catch up to him. The love of a son for his father is a place I love.

Personality

2008-05-09T13:01:00.001-07:00

A Place I Love

2008-05-02T09:54:00.001-07:00

SS 200

f/10

ISO 100

Something Western

2008-04-25T19:06:00.001-07:00

Hope this classifies as "Western". LOL

Spring

2008-04-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

Spring means fresh picked flowers from my children.

f4.5 SS1/400 ISO400

Spring!

2008-04-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

Spring brings playing in the sand...

Family Visits

Swimming in 50 degree water...

Soaking up the rays!

This is what Spring looks like around here for us...

Framed!

2008-04-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

... by palm trees

spring

2008-04-18T13:51:00.001-07:00

Framed

2008-04-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

self-portrait. I was sitting in the car and took the photo of my reflection in the mirror- Loved how it framed my face.

f4.5 ISO 100

Framed

2008-04-11T14:05:00.001-07:00

ISO 100, f 2.0, SS. 400

Natural Light

2008-04-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Natural Lighting

2008-04-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

Ok so I don't know if this is what you typically do, but I'm new and wanted to introduce myself and say howdy! My name is Sarah and I've been a photographer (professionally) for a year now. I LOVE photography and I'm so excited to learn a TON from all of you! Ok here's my take on "Natural Lighting"

F 18 ISO 400

F4.0 ISO 400

F5.6 ISO 300

Natural Lighting

2008-04-05T07:53:00.001-07:00

f4.5 ISO 100

This picture she was standing at our bathroom window looking outside.

f8.0 ISO 200
The sun was coming down and she was gazing out towards it.

Natural Lighting

2008-04-04T17:47:00.000-07:00

SS 500, ISO 250, f5.6

Before and After

2008-03-29T22:43:00.001-07:00

So in trying to come up with something for the before and after, I have my daughters before and after. Before getting ready for Easter Sunday church, After getting ready before church, and then after church.

Before And After

2008-03-28T14:43:00.001-07:00

f3.5
Took this picture of my youngest when he was just a newborn and I used an "action" in photoshop to make it back and white with a little bit of selective coloring. I loved how it turned out.

Before and After

2008-03-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

I took both of these photos of my daughter in the play Oliver Twist. They were both taken under dark theater lighting. The first one- (the before), I took in full auto mode with a flash. The second one, I took in full manual mode without a flash.

I love the difference the manual settings make!

Photo at right: ISO 1250, f5.6, SS. 50

Before and After

2008-03-28T09:39:00.001-07:00

This is my interpretation of before and after. Lauren on the (left) had a hair going directly down her face. It was really bugging me. So I used Photoshop Elements 5.0 and took the hair out. Now I really love this picture of my daughter with her friend playing at the park.

Play

2008-03-21T23:22:00.000-07:00

f /6.3 ISO 100
f /4.5 SS1/30 ISO 400

Play

2008-03-21T22:35:00.000-07:00

SS 100, f/2.8, ISO 200

SS 8000, f/2.0, ISO 200
SS 6400, f/1.8, ISO 200

Play

2008-03-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures this week with the thought of play in mind. We had fun playing at dance, at an easter egg hunt, and lots of fun shooting off a rocket!

PLAY

2008-03-21T09:21:00.001-07:00

F4.5 / 320

F10 / 1250

F10 / 1250

F5.6 / 3200

F6.3 / 250

DOF

2008-03-15T16:35:00.001-07:00

Depth of Field

2008-03-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

Better late than never. Yesterday was a crazy day!

Depth Of Field

2008-03-14T10:26:00.000-07:00

f5.6 ISO 800 Shutter Priority Mode

Depth of field

2008-03-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

ISO 200, SS100, Aperture 1.8

Shutter Speed

2008-03-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

I had 1 other group of pictures with Kyle riding his bike but I was encountering some uploading problems. Here is my entry for this week. From what I know about Shutter Speed, the faster the shutter speed, the faster the camera takes the picture. The slower the shutter speed, the slower the camera takes the picture. I usually don't have the need to have my SS be the priority so this weeks topic helped me to open my eyes to the possibilities and advantages of choosing your own shutter speed. (It is good to use your S priority mode on your camera if you would like to control the speed of your shutter if you are trying to stop or freeze motion or to show action.)

Shutter Speed

2008-03-07T08:51:00.000-08:00

SS 1/200 sec. Aperture f10, ISO 100. I like how the slower shutter speed makes the bird a little blurry. If I would have had another chance before the bird was gone, I would have slowed it down even more to get more of the wing movement. I was hoping to get a really cool SLOW shutter shot, but I haven't had time lately, so here are a couple FAST ones to freeze the action.

SS 1/4000 sec., Aperture 1.8, ISO 400 (red shirt)

SS 1/6400 sec., Aperture 1.8, ISO 100 (pink shirt)

Shutter Speed

2008-03-07T06:14:00.000-08:00

Manual Mode: F13, 2 sec.

Here's the before picture before I put it in motion.

Shutter speed refresher

2008-03-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

This week's challenge is shutter speed. The shutter speed affects how long the shutter stays open. The longer the shutter is open (low shutter number), the more light goes in. To open and close the shutter quickly and allow less light, use a quick speed (high number = quicker shutter). The shutter numbers are really fractions that is why the large numbers are the fast speeds and the low numbers keep it open much longer.
A fast shutter speed freezes motion instantly- a slower one can imply movement through slight blurring of the movement. Photographers use a slower shutter speed to create the smooth waterfall pictures as opposed to freezing drops of water instantly. There are alot of cool effects you can do by adjusting your shutter speed. Try some out. We can't wait to see what different 'interpretations' we get a chance to view this week! For more tutuorials and info, check out the following links with more shutter speed details.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shutter_speed
http://www.shutterbee.thinkrandom.com/#ShutterSpeed
http://www.trustedreviews.com/digital-cameras/review/2006/11/23/Digital-Camera-Tutorial-Shutter-speed/p3 (pages 3 and 4 show examples of the same pictures at different shutter speeds)
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/shutter-speed/ (this one gives examples of different shutter speeds and examples of what you might use them for. It has great shutter speed photos. (The digital photography school also allows you to sign up for a weekly newsletter that includes lots of tutorials, info, photos, and anything that a photographer is interested in).
http://www.jeffgalbraithphotography.ca/shutter-speed-tutorial.html

These all have good info and good examples. You can do a search for more shutter speed tutorials if you are thirsty for more.
So, for this week, either slow it down (low shutter number) to show movement and allow more light, or speed it up (high shutter number) to freeze motion instantly.
(I am secretly hoping to see some slower speeds). Have fun lens friends!

Shooting from an angle

2008-03-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is late. My Fridays are my craziest days of the week ususally. I will try to get it there on Thus this week instead of Monday. I don't seem to have any days inbetween. Here are a few I shot for this challange. Couldn't pick out my favorites.

Shooting an an angle

2008-02-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

F5 / SS 400

F2.2 / SS 60

F4.5 / SS 320

F5 / SS 200

So I couldn't decide which picture to post so I did 4 of them. :)

Shoot At An Angle

2008-02-29T09:28:00.000-08:00

ISO 200, f/7.1, SS 1/15

Blue

2008-02-22T23:24:00.000-08:00

This is the picture I thought of that I took this last week when I thought of the word blue. Not necessarily the color, but this is my step-mom and I caught her this weekend as she zoned out thinking about my dad who passed away this summer. I love you Jeannine. I am not sure my settings, still figuring all that out.

Blue

2008-02-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

manual mode: ISO 400 SS1/10 f5.6

My cat has the most beautiful blue eyes. When I saw the theme for this week I knew I wanted to capture them. He was not cooperative at all. Totally broke the "rule of thirds" here but I wanted to join in with my first post.

Blue "Otter Pops"

2008-02-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

Manual Mode: F 4.5 , 100

F 5.6, 160

blue

2008-02-22T07:32:00.000-08:00

ISO 320, Shutter speed 1/512, Aperture (f-stop) f/14, focal length 28.00 mm.

Welcome Back!

2008-02-19T11:51:00.000-08:00

Feb. 22............blue
Feb. 29............shoot at an angle
Mar. 07..........shutter speed
Mar. 14...........depth of field
Mar. 21...........play
Mar. 28...........before and after
Apr. 04...........natural lighting
Apr. 11............framed
Apr. 18............spring
Apr. 25............something western
May 02..........a place I love
May 09..........personality
May 16...........shoot from behind
May 23...........window
May 30...........chronological 4 photo series
Jun. 6..............should be in a magazine!
Jun. 13............document the facts
Jun. 20............backlighting
Jun. 27.............love is in the air
July 4...............God Bless America
July 11..............new
July 18..............together
July 25..............white space

more to come...

We have had a long leave of absence due to illness and life in general. But we are back! We also want to invite more participants to learn with us. If you would like to participate leave your email in the comments.
Also, we are still planning the second half of the year's themes. Please leave your theme ideas in the comments that you would like to do or see us do. Thanks for your support!

Natural Lighting

2007-10-19T00:05:00.001-07:00

Feathers

2007-10-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

depth of field

2007-10-03T14:27:00.001-07:00

Thought I would add another depth of field. I shot them through the decorative accent on the fence.

depth of field

2007-10-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

Depth of Field

2007-09-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

Feet

2007-09-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have more feet pictures and will add soon.

Shooting at an angle

2007-09-27T23:55:00.000-07:00

I took my family out last night and did these photographs. This was my first photo shoot outside on manual mode. I am so excited the way they turned out.

When I left the location I was so frustrated because my kids would not cooperate at all. They kept running off and wouldn't go where there was good lighting. I decided I didn't have the patience to do photo shoots and I was ready to quit (yes you know like put my camera down never to pick it back up again.) But much to my surprise when I got home and looked at the pictures on the computer I captured some really great images of my children and captured their personalities. I am so excited how this shoot turned out. Here's just a couple images of what I got at an angle. I have been trying to focus on shooting on an angle and it is really fun to see the difference it makes in a photograph.

Lines

2007-09-27T23:35:00.000-07:00

feet

2007-09-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

Eyes

2007-09-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

I am late in posting these eyes but had to share this picture. I took it at a pool party on Labor Day.

Reflections

2007-09-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone....sorry I am way late in posting on reflections! I got the pictures ready last week and then didn't get the chance to actually post! I LOVE reflections and found a couple different varieties of reflections in some of the pictures that I took.

Picture one is all about the reflective light of late afternoon sun coming in and hitting the keys of the piano and reflecting off of the little boys face. When I metered for this I had a hard time because his face was so lit up by the sun but his body wasn't so I had to make sure not to overexpose him and let the rest of his body be a little darker so that you could see how much light the sun was really shedding.

Picture two shows how an ordinary wood table can be turned into a reflective surface when it has light coming at it from two angles. There is light coming from the front and from the right to really shine up this table that is actually a dark wood table.

Picture three uses early morning sun filtering in from shutters to cast light on only the little boys front. Because the light is direct light and there is no light behind the boy it makes everything behind him all dark....even the laundry piled behind him! Also...that direct sunlight bounces off of the light wood floor into his eyes causing great catchlights.

Picture four is using a mirror to capture an image. This can be tricky as you need to make sure that you aren't caught in the picture like I was a couple of times! Also you have to remember to focus on the person in the mirror and then when they turn to look at you focus on them and not the mirrored person. I goofed a couple times on that one!

Picture five is the most technique challenging. To create this image you buy a piece of plexiglass at Home Depot. Mine was probably 3ftx4ft maybe. You lay it over a black sheet on top of your table or floor. Then take the rest of the black sheet and drape it upwards...mine was attached to my fan on the ceiling. Then place your baby on top of the plexiglass and shoot quickly before they pee! This is a super fun way to get a cheap reflection.

I don't have any pictures for the lines post but I will be back next week for the
"shoot at an angle" post!

Lines

2007-09-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

Wow! It has been so busy around here! And for everyone too- were all late posting!

I like in the first one how all the lines repeat and go in different directions. I love that ceiling!

In the second one, I love how all the subjects in the photo (even the fountain) are all on a line of this fence. I also like how the decorative scrolling breaks up the straight same direction of the lines.

In the third, simpler one, I used the pool fence to frame my subject. She looks so cute!

Reflection

2007-09-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to add that I took this photo on manual mode. (Which is a miracle that I got such a great picture becuase I'm just starting to figure out this whole manual mode thing.) I took it on F5 and 1/3 sec. I also added a bit of contrast on the picture to brighten it up a bit. I really like the way it turned out.

another set of eyes

2007-08-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

I am going to be out of town this week and will be late posting, so I thought I would put a better shot of for 'eyes' from a couple weeks ago.

Mother-daughter relationship

2007-08-28T23:54:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,
I am new to this blog and was adopted in by Jennifer! Thanks so much for letting me join you. I am posting pictures of a mother-daughter relationship that I photographed recently. The little girl is three and was SO fun to photograph....I just let them play and tickle...they both loved it! I have many images of them looking in the camera....but the ones that really pull on my heartstrings are the ones where they are just totally into each other and loving on each other. It's what motherhood is all about!

Photography stats:
All of these were shot with a Canon 20D and a 50 fixed 1.8 lens. Most of the images were shot at 100-200 ISO at f2.8.
I edited the pictures in iphoto on my mac. All I did was tweek the contrast, sharpen and adjust the color so it pops a little. The pictures were great coming out of the camera BUT they were a little flat. I have settings put onto my camera so that my pictures come out a little punchier! That's how I like it! Let me know if you have any questions!

Family Circle

2007-08-25T12:55:00.001-07:00

For this photo, I balanced my tripod on the top of a ladder and orchestrated the whole photo from the top of the ladder, then pushed the button and had to climb down the ladder without touching the tripod or falling off (one part of the ladder was on my patio, and one part was inside my house four inches highter), and then get into postion, grab two hands and make sure I was looking properly at the camera. In the end, three of my kids in the final photo were either not looking or didn't look that great or something, so I ended up cutting their faces or heads off a different photo where they looked better and putting them onto this one. In the end, all the trouble was worth it, and we will treasure this photo for a long time.

You can do wonders with a ladder and a tripod. If you take up the challenge, I would love to see it.

Relationship

2007-08-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

the eyes have it

2007-08-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

school

2007-08-11T17:36:00.001-07:00

I used Photoshop Elements 3.0 to erase the background behind this ring of crayons using the Polyganal marquee tool. After tracing around the crayons and sets of crayons, I created a new layer for each one and pasted them onto the new layers. I painted the background white, then put the white background on the very bottom of all the layers in the layers palette. Then flatten the image and save.

FENCES!

2007-08-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

Fences

2007-08-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

Storms

2007-07-31T14:04:00.000-07:00

These lightening pictures were taken by my husband Troy. I am the supportive one inside the house praying he doesn't get struck by lightening :) This is his hobby and he loves taking these pictures but he has had some close calls.

Storm

2007-07-27T16:10:00.000-07:00

I took these in my backyard in the middle of the night. I just put my camera on fast and just kept clicking until my card was full. After around 150 pictures of fast clicking, I ended up with 4 or 5 good ones.

Ahh- the patience- or craziness- of the wanna be photographer.

ps- scroll down a little to see my new 'dirty' post.

Dirty- finally

2007-07-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

I found this old photo, but I had to photograph it so it didn't come out the best quality. I still thought it would be worth sharing still. This was a few years back when a subdivision under construction burned to the ground.

On the Road!

2007-07-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

What better picture can you have than literally "ON THE ROAD". Last week we were driving to Utah and the traffic came to a complete stop. We thought it was an accident but little did we know that there was a huge fire right off the road. Traffic was backed up for about an hour and about 4 to 5 miles back. So everybody got out of their cars and were walking around. This is my dad.

Traffic going to Hoover Dam!

Photo scavenger Hunt

2007-07-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

here is some silverware...

for the scavenger hunt.

Next object to keep your eyes open for- a train.

on the road

2007-07-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

The view from my rear view mirror...

Amazing photography website

2007-07-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

I found a great photo site done by my friend Matt Jesperson. He is a mountain climber and had taken absolutely gorgeous photos on his trips. I absolutely enjoyed seeing them, so I thought I would share them. Here is his website: Mountain Marauders Album- enjoy!

patriotic

2007-07-09T13:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took me so long- no access to internet for more than a week.

Patriotic

2007-07-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to add the picture with Troy and Lauren with the fireworks is an altered photo. I took the picture of them in our living room with green screen and then used PhotoShop to put the fireworks behind them. I thought it was a fun picture an wanted to include it.

Shooting from Above

2007-07-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

Above

2007-06-29T09:51:00.001-07:00

This one of the flower was taken by Darin!

OUTSIDE!

2007-06-22T15:37:00.001-07:00

**-

OUTSIDE

2007-06-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas, outside thinking you could not pay me enough to go on this ride!

The look on my boys face outside playing...priceless!

Outside

2007-06-20T22:17:00.000-07:00

Mt. Timpanogas- Provo Utah.

Yellowstone Park, just a few feet north of a giant waterfall.

An Arizona State Park near some ancient cave dwellings.

Go outside and ... PLAY.

FATHERS!

2007-06-18T12:56:00.001-07:00

father

2007-06-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

Almost as tall as you dad!

FATHER

2007-06-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

WATER (better late than never!)

2007-06-11T02:51:00.000-07:00

So I had some computer problems, but it is working now. Here are my water photos!

next week- fathers

2007-06-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Next week's photo theme is fathers. I found a website that has a great gallery of father and child photos. Go check it out for a little inspiration before you start clicking this week.
Better Photo.com

I also thought this might be interesting. Here are some nostaligic father child photos from the 50s.
Life Classic pictures

have a wonderful father photo day- I mean father's day.

water

2007-06-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

WATER!

2007-06-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

photo tips

2007-06-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

1.Try framing your shot.

For this one, I backed up until the trees were in the shot and framing the top of the building.

2. Shoot at an angle for an artistic look.

This shot was also framed with trees.

3. Get down low.

Try getting low to get a new perspective! For this photo, I squatted way down so I could get below the flowers. I used the camera's landscape mode so everything would be in focus.

4. Look up.

For this shot, I stood at the base of the middle of the building and looked directly up. From this angle, it appears as if the spires on either side angle toward the middle.

tweaked

2007-06-01T23:52:00.001-07:00

I played with this photo a little in Photoshop Elements 3.0

Here's how:

1. Use the magnetic lasso tool to select the rose.

2. Click on Select.

3. Click Inverse.

4. Click Enhance.

5. Click Adjust color.

6. click remove color from area surrounding the object (the rose).

7. click adjust hue/saturation.

8. click the box that says colorize.

9. Move the three manual controls until you find the desired hue, saturation and lightness.

10. click select.

11. click inverse.

12. click enhance.

13. click adjust color

14. click adjust hue/saturation

15. increase the saturation slightly to make the rose brighter.

16. click select

17. click deselect.

18. click file- save as-

this should work on anything with a defined shape like this. The magnetic tool is amazing! I would love to see your 'tweaked' photos!

Hands

2007-06-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

Reagan and Lauren's Hands

Reagan's Hands at 16 months old.

Lauren's hands at 2!

Troy's hands! I love his hands.

Pretty 'Handy'

2007-06-01T13:28:00.001-07:00

I also spotted a great hands shot at this website.

HANDS

2007-06-01T08:54:00.001-07:00

Rule of Thirds

2007-05-25T13:22:00.001-07:00

Rule of Thirds

2007-05-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

The picture of Reagan with the black background was taken of him in front of a mirror. The background was busy so I used Photoshop to change the background color.

Rule of thirds

2007-05-24T08:18:00.001-07:00

Rule of Thirds

2007-05-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

This week our photo challenge is the Rule of Thirds. I found a nice little tutorial about it at a website called Digital Photography School. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Rule of Thirds

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows.

As you’re taking an image you would have done this in your mind through your viewfinder or in the LCD display that you use to frame your shot.

With this grid in mind you the ‘rule’ now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image.
Not only this - but it also gives you four ‘lines’ that are also useful positions for elements in your photo.
The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the centre of the shot - using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.
In addition to the above picture of the bee where the bee’s eye becomes the point of focus here are some of examples:

In this image I’ve purposely placed the head of my subject on one of the intersecting points - especially his eyes which are a natural point of focus for a portrait. His tie and flower also take up a secondary point of interest.

In this shot I’ve placed the subject along a whole line which means she is considerably off centre and therefore creating an additional point of interest. Placing her right in the centre of the frame could have resulted in an ‘awkward’ shot.
In a similar way a good technique for landscape shots is to position horizons along one of the horizontal lines also as I’ve done with the following shot (I’ll let you imagine the lines).
Using the Rule of Thirds comes naturally to some photographers but for many of us takes a little time and practice for it to become second nature.
In learning how to use the rule (and then to break it) the most important questions to be asking of yourself are:
What are the points of interest in this shot?
Where am I intentionally placing them?
Once again - remember that breaking the rule can result in some striking shots - so once you’ve learnt it experiment with purposely breaking it to see what you discover.
Lastly - keep the rule of thirds in mind as you edit your photos later on. Post production editing tools today have good tools for cropping and reframing images so that they fit within the rules. Experiment with some of your old shots to see what impact it might have on your photos.