It's always fun to photograph people, particularly friends and family. But now you want your portraits to look more professional. Below are tips that will transform your snap-shots into beautiful photographs.

1. Placing your subject in the middle of the frame is generally a bad idea. The reason being is because it makes for a very uninteresting photograph. Try placing your subject in the left side or the right side of the frame, because now you are including some background in your photo, adding context.

2. You will want soft lighting for portrait photography. By keeping the light source to your back, you will avoid backlighting your subject, which makes them dark (this is a cool effect sometimes) losing detail in their face. Natural, outdoor lighting is best, and that is usually before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m.

3. On some cameras you will see a "Portrait" setting, and what that does is set a shallow depth of field creating a blurred background. The advantage to this feature is that your subject is clearly the main focus of the photograph. To manually create this effect, set your aperture below 5.6.

4. Try getting close to your subject. Zoom in; feel free to fill the frame with your subject's face. You may want to have them look in different directions rather than directly into the camera. The most important thing is that your subject is comfortable and having fun.

5. While many portraits are of the subject's face, not all of them have to be. Try capturing a portrait without the subject's face. What do their hands, feet, or possessions say about them? Where do they work, where are they in their element, where do they enjoy spending time?

6. Get creative. Have some fun by tilting the camera, or make your subject move around. By using a tripod in low lighting, a long shutter speed will allow you to create streaks if your subject is moving.

Have fun, there are not set rules to follow. Your subject may even have some ideas for certain shots or locations. After the photo shoot, send your subject one of the wonderful photographs you took.