Why “Rules” Aren’t Truth: Think Before You Shoot

Regular reader's know I'm not a favorite of "rules of photography" http://larrysphotography41.blogspot.com/2025/06/there-are-no-rules-in-photography.html

So another installment.

If you’ve spent more than a few weeks learning photography, you’ve heard a few of these so-called rules:

Always Expose to the Right (ETTR).

Always follow the Rule of Thirds.

Always keep ISO as low as possible.

Never blow your highlights.

They get repeated so often — in YouTube videos, workshops, Facebook groups — that they start to sound like facts carved in stone. But here’s the truth:

👉 A rule repeated enough times becomes dogma — and dogma kills learning.

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📏 Where these rules came from

Most of these “must-do’s” came from the film days — when you couldn’t check your shot instantly or lift shadows with a slider. The Sunny 16 Rule helped you guess exposure on a bright day. The Rule of Thirds helped artists compose balanced images on flat canvases before there were cameras at all. ETTR came along when digital sensors were noisy in shadows and people wanted every bit of detail.

They all made sense — in context.

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🔍 But here’s what nobody tells you

Cameras evolved. Post-processing got powerful. Sensors improved. But we kept chanting the same slogans. So students learn the line, not the reason. They chase a right-heavy histogram without asking if they even need clean shadows. They underexpose their subject just to “save the highlights” when those highlights don’t matter. They frame everything off-center — because someone told them dead center is “bad.”

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✅ The real skill is knowing when to break it

Good photographers don’t obey rules blindly. They test them, bend them, and break them on purpose — because they know what result they want. They know why ETTR helps shadows in RAW. They know when a blown specular highlight is just fine. They know that the Rule of Thirds is helpful — until it isn’t.

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🧭 Practical takeaway

Here’s my guide for you:

Know the rule.

Know why it works.

Test it yourself.

Break it when your subject, light, or story needs it.

That’s how you learn — not just repeat.

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📸 Next time you hear someone preach a rule, pause and ask: “What happens if I do the opposite?”

You might find out the truth for yourself — and that’s real photography.