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Comment by Phil:  This article gives 5 very useful tips to help you improve your pictures. These are simple and once learnt you will do them without really thinking about it. 

by James Fowler

In recent years digital cameras and camera phones have made photography more accessible than ever, but if you find that the ease of digital has not made the quality of your photography improve, observing these 5 simple tips will help lift the standard of your photography overnight.

Tip #1. Rotate 90 degrees! No, not you, the camera. Most amateur photographers hold their cameras in the standard, horizontal fashion, which means all their pictures end up in the standard, horizontal format. But if you are photographing a tall building, a single tree, or a small group of friends, for example, turning the camera so the picture format is vertical (or portrait format as it is known) can immediately improve the composition.

Tip #2. Split the screen into 3's. There is a basic rule of composition, used in all the visual arts, called the Rule of Thirds. If your camera allows you to overlay a grid in the viewfinder or on the screen, this can be a great aid to using the rule for quality composition, but even if you don't have this function simply imagine 2 horizontal lines and 2 vertical lines evenly spaced and dividing the viewing screen into 9 'blocks'. Where the horizontal and vertical lines cross is one of the thirds. If you place the main point of the subject (perhaps a person's eyes, or a single tree on the horizon) at one of these intersections, it will immediately lift your composition. Another tip is to place the horizon on one of the horizontal lines, rather than having it smack bang through the middle of the picture. Give it a try, you'll be impressed.

Tip #3. Keep it clean. This sounds an obvious point, but do keep the front of the lens clean, but never remove dust from the lens using the end of your finger. This will simply leave an oily mark that will soften sharp detail in the photograph. Sometimes that's a pretty effect, but only when you want it.

Tip #4. Make the light interesting. A subject with little contrast between dark and light areas, or little colour, will be naturally flat, and this is made even worse when photographed under a dull sky. Try to make the lighting more interesting and you'll immediately lift a mediocre shot into something special. For example, if photographing a portrait, have the person stand side on to a bright window, and the side lighting will instantly make their features stand out (although they may not always welcome that!).

Tip #5. Watch out for weird growths! When photographing a scene, especially people, it is very easy to only concentrate on the immediate subject. But take a second to check what's in the background, so that people don't have lampposts sticking or similar out of their heads!

With digital, the biggest benefit is being able to review a photograph instantly, so if it is a memorable shot, take a second to check that you've followed all 5 tips above and you'll start to improve your photography instantly. And the good news is that after a while these considerations become more and more natural, and you soon have friends referring to you as a natural born photographer. Happy snapping! James Fowler is a creative copywriter specialising in subjects ranging from photographic art to audio books.