TIP 1
Want to improve your photos? Try this easy (yet oh-so-effective) tip:

1. Pick up your camera and hold it to your eye. (Are you doing it?)
2. Look around the perimeter of the viewfinder. What do you see? Do you see toys on the ground? Do you see that you’re cropping out your husband’s head as you focus on your little one? Do you see that leaf peeking out from behind your subject’s head?
3. Now move the camera around (or recompose) so you eliminate those distractions (making sure you watch for new distractions), then take the shot.

TIP 2
Stand up (yep, I’m serious), then take three giant steps forward. Pretty easy, isn’t it? I guarantee you’ll get better photos by simply moving closer to your subject.

TIP 3
See those things called knees? Well, not only do they help you walk forward, but they also help you kneel or climb up high. Taking photos from different perspectives will help you take extraordinary images.

TIP 4
Turn off your flash. It sounds contradictory, but in most situations you don’t need a flash. Instead, place your subject next to a window or open door and use the natural light to illuminate your subject.

TIP 5
Read your camera’s manual. You knew it was coming, but I promise, by understanding your camera, you’re going to take better photos. For example, you’ll know your camera’s limitations (like maybe you can’t get super-close photos because of something called a fixed focal length), or maybe you’ll learn that you can get better images of your daughter by using the portrait mode on your camera.

But don’t just read it today. Reread it in six months, then a year from now. Oh, I’ll be the first to admit that it’s a “boring” read, but the more you understand photography, the more sense the manual makes.

— Tracy White in Photography for Scrapbookers