The good old ‘rule of thirds‘ makes a lot of sense in many types of photography (if you don’t know what the rule of thirds is see out tutorial on it).

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Here in Australia we love to hit the beach.

We’re one big island and most of our population is scattered along the coast line so the beach is a natural place for us to go both on day trips and longer holidays.

Beaches present digital camera owners with a number of wonderful opportunities as they are places of natural beauty, color and interesting light. However they also present a variety of challenges including camera damage, privacy issues and making large open spaces interesting.

While it’s not really beach going weather at present here in my part of the world I know that many readers of this site are getting close to Summer and beach photography will be high on the agenda of many (I’m so jealous).
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Placing the elements of your picture within the frame and deciding what to leave out.

In our modern world of automatic cameras, which focus for us and adjust the exposure in an ever more perfect way (most of the time), the biggest difference between a good photograph and a mediocre one is the compositon.

In every photograph we take, we can decide where the boundaries of that photo will be, called the cropping. We can also choose the viewpoint. If we are taking pictures of people or movable objects then, often, we also have the opportunity to arrange them into the shapes we want.
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Here are five simple tips to help you get better photographs, no matter the camera you are using.

1. Try vertical composition. Point and shoot cameras rarely come with viewfinders in them anymore and the way the controls are setup, shooting horizontally feels right in your hands. Often times though, a vertical shot will yield a better result, so give the camera turn and try shooting some vertical images

2. Shoot from waist level. Many photographs from people to buildings simply look better when shot from waist level. Perspective is something that needs to be considered when shooting. If you use the first suggestion of shooting vertically to compose a portrait of less then 5 or 6 people, try shooting it down on one knee. You may find that this method yields to more flattering photographs across the board.
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