I have been asked how people can improve their photography, do they need a better camera?  This is a common question.  

I feel photography is all about having an eye for a photo, but it can be taught and we can always improve.  The gear helps of course, but your point and shoot and cell phone can take amazing photos too. Cell phone images aren't so good for big enlargements, but people often don't want to enlarge their photos into big sizes and look to making photo books or smaller prints.

The best advice I can suggest is to back up your photos, whether they are on your phone or your camera.  Take them off your cards and save them.  If you lose your phone you have lost hundreds if not thousands of photos, never to be seen again.  These memories are so precious and it's so heartbreaking to lose them.  

For actual shooting hints, my suggestions are:

Get in close to your subject, you don't have to show the whole person, you can get in close and shoot them from the waist up, showing more of the face and expressions.  Fill the frame with the subject, this alone will make your photos so much more interesting.  This applies for lots of photography, not just shooting people.

Don't line people up against a wall or fence, pull them away at least a metre, this makes a big different to your shot. 

Every time you go to take the photo, just scan the background of the shot, is there a person in the way and you need to wait until they move, a common mistake is a pole looking as though its growing out of a persons head, just move a little or get your subject to move.  It doesn't take long to check the background and it really improves your shots.

Ask your subjects to be on a similar focal plane: ie: a similar distance from your camera, often if someone is a lot closer to the camera, they will be in focus and the other won't or the other way around.

Use your focal points to choose where you are focusing, this can be done with a cell phone too.  For iphones if you touch on the screen that is where the focus point will be for that shot, and if you hold your finger down and move it up or down it will lighten or darken the image at the same time.

Change your shooting angle. Get down lower or up higher. Shooting your childrens sport? Get lower so you are shooting to their level. Its a good workout for the thigh muscles at the same time. 

Finally, practice and more practice and learn your camera controls so you take the photo, not your camera. 

I hope these hints are helpful and if you have any other questions, just let me know, I love to hear from you.

Pam x