Someone on quora had asked if photography rules should be followed or broken. This was my response
Like all crafts There are phases to your learning*
1. Passionate start: you love the hobby and see you get appreciated for it. You keep doing it day in and out and just learn from your experiences
2.The apprentice: you start learning from others, from people from the web, from books etc. You use their knowledge and incorporate it into your hobby. However you are still new enough to understand many things hence you are taught rules so that you can improve even with your limited understanding. The rule of 3rds, inverse rule for shutter speed, exposure triangle, 1/160 rule for rain, all help you emulate art without the "feel" for it.*Here is where the rules are learnt and followed
3.The critic: you learn from your own mistakes. You try the rules, experiment and make minor changes to suit your equipment, your subject, your vision, your thought process. You see your flaws, hate yourself for them, think about quitting since you are clearly not good enough. However if you love the craft enough you keep coming back.
4.The teacher: by this time your work is good enough that people ask you to advise them. You do so never telling them that you are learning far more from them than they are from you. You know your flaws and work around them as you improve them. You teach the rules yet experiment with breaking them. You develop the feel by breaking rules and comparing* it against people who don't know the rules.
5.The savant: this is where you develop the feel, your own unique look and feel. This is what makes an Ansel adams or philip bloom work instantly recognizable. You know the rules but you trust your eye more than them thus breaking them as and when required. In doing so you create new rules that others at stage 2 will emulate.
So plot yourself in this, see where you are.
Amlan Mathur's answer to Are the rules of photography meant to be followed or broken? - Quora
Just some multiple layers in Photoshop with some custom brush 
