Practice, Practice, Practice....And the rule of thirds

This is one of the first pictures I took when I had committed to myself to really learn my camera. I was so proud of it. The bokeh, the exposure, the subject matter all of it. I had soooo much to learn! If you want to feel better about where your at with your photography, head over to my old photoblog http://lwheelerphotography.blogspot.com/ and look at my first posts. The change is painfully slow but it does happen!

Before I go into controlling the settings on your camera the first thing that you can do to improve your photography is to learn the rules of composition. One of my favorite rules is the rule of thirds.
It's a rule I broke in the above picture. Breaking rules is my other favorite rule of photography :)
Learn about the rule of thirds HERE
The shortened version is this.... To add interest to your photo avoid having the subject or horizon line dead center (unless you are going for symmetry which can be beautiful). Decide what your focus is BEFORE taking the picture. Is it the sky or the boats? is it the umbrellas or the clouds? Simply shift your view up or down Left or right to emphasize why you care enough to take the picture.
I didn't take these pictures with this post in mind or I would have given more exact examples. I simply took one, thought it was a little boring and then took a second one that added a little more interest. These were taken with my point and shoot so don't let your lack of a fancy camera deter you from experimenting!!! I can't emphasize enough how important practicing is. Learn something then practice it then learn something new!