Armed with your camera it's time to find something to "shoot".

What will it be? A person? A fence? A tree? A mountain? A person on a fence by a tree in front of a mountain?

Whatever your subject, you will need to pay attention to your composition if you want your picture to look good. There are a lot of "rules" that can help you figure out how to get a better shot, but there is no better guide than your own eyes. Look around for things that catch your eye. Then take as many pictures as you need to until you get one that captures what it was you saw (once again, a great reason to go digital).

One of the first "rules" to think about is the rule of "Thirds". Basically, your image should be divided into equal thirds both vertically and horizontally. Thus, you should think about your image almost like a tic-tac-toe board. The idea is to put important features (like a person, or a tree) on one of those lines.

Second, consider angles. The theory is, that for whatever reason, pictures with diagonal "lines" in them are more interesting than horizontal or vertical compositions. This doesn't mean that you want the lamp post in your frame to be tilted to one side. It does mean that if you have three people you should line them up so their heads form either a diagonal line or a triangle. Again, this is a "rule" to help you, not to live by.

The third thing to consider is Depth of Field. How much of the picture is in focus? Keep the important things in focus and make everything else out of focus. This keeps the viewers' eyes on the things that matters and can make your image more compelling.

After you have the picture you want, it's time to head back home and start with the Correction process.