Two years into photography, I've taken over 10,000 pictures. My camera has a rule of thirds grid built in, and for most of those shots, I've followed it religiously. It's the easiest rule to implement, the most obvious one to see. Line up your subject on those intersecting lines, and you've got instant composition.

But here's what nobody tells you when you're learning: the best photos often break the rules entirely.

The Training Wheels Phase

When I first learned about composition rules, I studied them the way I study anything: deliberately and systematically. Rule of thirds, leading lines, balance, negative space. I absorbed the theory, understood why these patterns please the human eye, why they're rooted in visual science and psychology.

But the real progress didn't happen in study. It happened when I implemented them. When I actually went out and took pictures, framed shots consciously, lined things up on that grid. That's when the rules started to make sense, not as abstract concepts, but as tools I could use.

When the Scene Moves Faster Than the Rules

The thing about wildlife photography is that moments don't wait for you to check your composition. A bird takes flight. An animal turns its head. The light shifts. You have seconds, sometimes less.

In those moments, composition rules become secondary. The most important thing is capturing the moment itself. You can't let a perfect rule of thirds setup slip away because you were too busy thinking about grid lines.

I have a photo of a dead duck on my Instagram. When I took it, I wasn't thinking about any composition rules. I was thinking about the scene: the stillness, the story it told, the weight of that moment. The composition came later, in post-processing, when I had time to crop and adjust and bring out what I'd felt when I pressed the shutter.

They're Not Really Rules

Here's what I've realized: these aren't rules at all. They're patterns that tend to work, common sense visual arrangements that appeal to the human eye because of how our brains process images. But you create your own rules.

If you captured the scene well, if the photo conveys what you felt, if it looks good to you, then you don't need to follow the conventional rules at all times. Sometimes breaking them is exactly what makes a photo unique, what sets it apart from the thousands of other images that play it safe.

"Most of the time" isn't the same as "always."

The rule of thirds is useful because it's easy to implement and it works most of the time. Some of my favorite shots center the subject completely. Some ignore balance. Some have chaotic framing that would make a composition teacher wince, but they work because they capture something real.

The Real Rule

If there's one rule I actually follow, it's this: capture the moment first, refine the composition second.

In fast scenes, in fleeting light, when something unexpected happens, forget the grid. Forget the guidelines. Just shoot. You can always crop in post. You can adjust framing later. But you can't recreate a moment that's gone.

The composition rules are training wheels, but not ones you outgrow completely. They're more like reference points you keep coming back to, tools in your kit that you use when they serve the image. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't.

The skill isn't in following rules. It's in knowing when to break them.

You can see more of my photography at photos.egeuysal.com or follow @snapuree on Instagram.