The concept of composition is simply where you place the elements within the four sides of the picture (the picture plane). The goal is to keep the viewer interested in the work. The analogy I use in my art classes is the artists job is to keep viewers interested in looking at their work, if a viewer looks at a piece of art and quickly moves to the next piece, the artist didn't do a very good job. People will spend a long time staring at the Mona Lisa because there is so much to visually explore. One of the ways an artist can keep the viewer interested is through composition which is essentially the interesting placement of the elements within the picture plane. The ROT is just one of many ways to place the elements in your picture, it is probably the most well know and common but not the only way.
As for "Rules are meant to be broken" IMHO that's a cop-out for people who don't understand what composition is and why we use it. I had a college professor comment on that idea, his take was, you learn the rules so that you know when to break them and why. I always thought that was good advice. I think that's why the most successful artists study the masters of painting, sculpture, photography, etc. and use that work as inspiration for their own work. Breaking rules without knowing what you are doing and why just leads to anarchy, and a lot of meaningless art.

The concept of composition is simply where you place the elements within the four sides of the picture (the picture plane). The goal is to keep the viewer interested in the work. The analogy I use in my art classes is the artists job is to keep viewers interested in looking at their work, if a viewer looks at a piece of art and quickly moves to the next piece, the artist didn't do a very good job. People will spend a long time staring at the Mona Lisa because there is so much to visually explore. One of the ways an artist can keep the viewer interested is through composition which is essentially the interesting placement of the elements within the picture plane. The ROT is just one of many ways to place the elements in your picture, it is probably the most well know and common but not the only way.
As for "Rules are meant to be broken" IMHO that's a cop-out for people who don't understand what composition is and why we use it. I had a college professor comment on that idea, his take was, you learn the rules so that you know when to break them and why. I always thought that was good advice. I think that's why the most successful artists study the masters of painting, sculpture, photography, etc. and use that work as inspiration for their own work. Breaking rules without knowing what you are doing and why just leads to anarchy, and a lot of meaningless art.

The concept of composition is simply where you place the elements within the four sides of the picture (the picture plane). The goal is to keep the viewer interested in the work. The analogy I use in my art classes is the artists job is to keep viewers interested in looking at their work, if a viewer looks at a piece of art and quickly moves to the next piece, the artist didn't do a very good job. People will spend a long time staring at the Mona Lisa because there is so much to visually explore. One of the ways an artist can keep the viewer interested is through composition which is essentially the interesting placement of the elements within the picture plane. The ROT is just one of many ways to place the elements in your picture, it is probably the most well know and common but not the only way.
As for "Rules are meant to be broken" IMHO that's a cop-out for people who don't understand what composition is and why we use it. I had a college professor comment on that idea, his take was, you learn the rules so that you know when to break them and why. I always thought that was good advice. I think that's why the most successful artists study the masters of painting, sculpture, photography, etc. and use that work as inspiration for their own work. Breaking rules without knowing what you are doing and why just leads to anarchy, and a lot of meaningless art.

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~ OK. One of the tools in my photographic bucket is the so-called “Rule of Thirds” for Composition. EVERY image I take is taken with that in mind - EVERY image. Now, part of that process is to determine if this “Rule” applies to the image I’m about to create. Should it be centered?? Sometimes that is a Yes. Should it be Quartered? Maybe. Not ALL the time. Most of my images fall under the Rule of Thirds category. It is what I was taught early on in my imaging endeavor and has stuck quite truly. It’s a classic.
~ Here at UHH, I find that a lot of people know about the Rule of Thirds. I see the axiom “Rules are Made to be BROKEN” thrown around here quite a bit to the point that it seems that CENTERING the subject in the frame is VERY much the norm - for a lot of people/artists here!
~ In my humble opinion, it would seem that in MANY of the images posted here at UHH, many, many would, compositionally, look and have more feeling than the quick CENTER Autofocus sensor can deliver. Focus and Recompose, comes to mind or move to a different sensor. I know, I know - BIF is a total thing in itself so that is not a consideration with this post. To me, BIF is “GET the Dang Shot!!”
~ I'm NOT bashing anyone here - this is just a general observation. Meant to see what others think. I am not judging right or wrong with this. Curiosity.

...Anyways… looking at your OWN images, are you SATISFIED with what you are doing Compositionally with your images?? Is the Subject Centered, the normal composition you desire?
^ Please Post an image!! Let us see your point!! ...Whooohooo!!!