Then next compositional trick, if your audience is finding the rule of thirds too subtle, is using converging line. This is the photographer’s way of pointing to the important part, and basically saying

“This is the bit I want you to look at, stupid!”

This works very well on landscapes giving very strong images which end up with a very graphic feel. The converging lines can be made up of anything from paths to roads or lakesides to streams, even man made structures like the lock gate in this picture ( a more subtle trick in this shot is the fact that the girl is looking at the point of interest, most people will look at what she is looking at).

Couple this technique with the rule of thirds and you can make sure people look at your image the way you want them to.

Going along the same theme is the trick of using just one line to lead people to the main point of interest, and the line does not have to be straight, in fact in this case a wavy line can make the image a lot more interesting.