I think the problem many people have with the "Rule of Thirds" is first the word "rule" in it. It's really a guide and it's a good one. And second, they don't really understand what the rule says.

Do I think about it when I shoot, nope. But not because I don't follow it. It's because it's just part of me now. It's like driving. Do you conciously think of everything you do when you drive? You did when you first learned but after time behind the wheel it all fades into the background.

Same with most photography techniques. You learn them and practice them and soon it becomes subconcious. In that way, when you need to take an image of a bird or a jet going by at Mach 1 you just do it all without hesitating or having to think about it.

Do I always follow it? Nope. Break the "rules" when need to is how I feel about it, but you might want know the rules before you do.

Adam - While I agree you can always crop the image later, you also lose quality of image when doing that. The more you crop out of the frame, the worse the quality gets (it probably matters more for digital photography, but it still holds true for film too). I'd think it would be better to get composition proficiency to the point where you can take that image in a fraction of a second with the composition you want. But maybe that's just me.

-=>Donald