Make it Focal - Part 7 - Sweet Spot

While the center of the page draws a fair amount of attention, it can also be a bit boring. A more interesting place for your focal photo is the "sweet spot".  Photographers may be familiar with the "rule of thirds".  Applying this rule to your scrapbook page allows you to find the "sweet spot" for placing a focal photo.

The basic idea is this.  Draw two imaginary horizontal lines dividing your paper into 3rds.  Do the same with vertical lines dividing your paper into 3rds the other way.  To place a photo on the "sweet spot" you would place it where these lines fall.  It is especially effective if you place it where two lines intersect, thus placing it in the "sweet spot" both directions.  Here's an example of this.

While the photo of the pink fish falls a bit to the left of the "sweet spot", the brightest part and face of the fish fall almost directly on it.  That placement along with the bright color of the fish, really help pull the eye to it!

Now that we've discussed several ways of creating a focal point, I suggest you take some time to look at pages you've completed.  I suspect you will find that those you like the best use several of these techniques to mark the focal point -- whether you were aware you were doing that or not.  I also suspect that if you examine pages you have never been as happy with, you will discover several where your focal point is not as clear as it could be.  You may find you can use these focal point tips to fix them so you're happier with them!