Breaking the Rules

When you've constantly been reminded about taking into consideration rule of thirds, balance, line, and other rules of composition when taking photos, and suddenly you are given an assignment where you are expected to do the complete opposite, things get a bit difficult. Especially when the photograph still has to have good lighting and focus, making other aspects of it bad proves to be extremely challenging. In order to take these bad/good pictures, I realized I would have to look through my lens, find something I would take a picture of if I were trying to make it good, then move the lens or some of the objects to break the rules.

This photograph breaks the rules, "Line" and "Balance". The lines are very awkward and obscured by the busy background and jumble of different objects in the picture, and do everything but add visual unity. There is no balance in the photograph either, as the shapes of the different objects do not compliment each other at all. However, if the picture had been of only the red ball and the pinecone, it would be an example of asymmetrical balance.

Canon Rebel XS, shutter speed: 1/50, aperture: 3.5 

This photograph breaks the rule of "Simplicity". There are too many different shaped objects in the picture, which offset each other and confuse the centre of interest. The background is complicated and the main "centre of interest", if it can even be justified as that, is right in the centre, which lessens the dynamic of the image. 

Canon Rebel XS, shutter speed: 1/60, aperture 3.5

This photograph breaks the "Rule of Thirds" and "Line" rules of composition. Rule of Thirds is broken because the centre of interest (the red ball) is not placed on any of the imaginary lines. Instead, it is placed in a very weird position at the bottom of the picture. The composition of lines is also incorrect because they do not lead to the centre of interest and the mixture of straight and curved lines are misleading. 
Canon Rebel XS, shutter speed: 1/6, aperture 4.5