1. Use the light in your environment.



Most digital cameras detect when a flash is needed, but oftentimes a picture will look better with natural light rather than the flash. This is particularly true for photographs of people; flashes tend to make us look pale. If there's not enough light to take a picture without a flash, use as much natural light as possible and supplement it with your digital camera's fill flash feature.

2. Don't forget about the background.

Sometimes the background can be distracting. You wouldn't want to take a picture of your children playing at the park with a portable toilet in the background, or a garbage truck speeding by. Try moving yourself and/or your subject a few steps to either side; it could make all the difference.

3. Place the subject off-center in the frame.

It's always good to place the subject a little off-center in the frame. In fact, there's something called The Rule of Thirds that gives us some pretty good guidelines for how to pull this off. Imagine a tic-tac-toe criss-cross drawn on the frame. Now align the focal point(s) of the picture with one or more of the intersections formed by the imaginary lines. This will result in a much more interesting picture.

4. Use interesting angles.

Get creative with your shooting angle. Sometimes standing on top of a raised surface and pointing down at your subject can make the difference between a boring portrait and a fun picture. When taking pictures of children, try getting down on their level rather than snapping shots of the tops of their heads. Have fun, and don't try to line up just perfectly for every picture.

5. Fill the frame with what you're aiming at.

Either zoom in or get close enough to the subject to fill up the frame. There should be no doubt what you're trying to take a picture of.

If you follow these tips, you'll be taking better pictures in no time!