Rule of Thirds: Avoid putting your subject in the middle – mentally divide your scene into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) and position key parts of your photo on these division lines. It’ll make your photo feel much more balanced.

Horizontal Horizons: Check your camera isn’t crooked just before you take the photo! Easy to forget – but hard to fix later, without losing more than you’d think when you rotate and crop!

Framing: Try having something visually edge or frame your photos – a tree or building bordering one side perhaps, or something up close in the foreground of landscape scenes. It can add a great feeling of ‘depth’, fill in some otherwise useless parts of the photo, and help to draw the viewers gaze in towards your subject.

Fill the Frame: Zoom in or stand closer so that the interesting part of the scene fills the entire photo. You paid for the zoom on your lens – so use it! Don’t always think that you have to try and fit the whole thing in – just get the important bits!

Try Different Angles: Crouch down low and look up, climb high and point down – try weird and wonderful angles! Photographing up towards something makes it look imposing, and looking down upon it weakens it. Especially for animals and children – get down to their level!

Taking Portraits: Stand back and zoom in – it’ll help blur out distracting backgrounds, and make your subject stand out. While you’re at it, put them in the shade rather than harsh sun to avoid dark shadows.

Uncluttered Backgrounds: Position yourself so that your subject is in front of a simple, plain background – not distracting colours or with telegraph poles seeming to protrude out of their heads! Train yourself to see beyond the subject before you take a photo.

Fill-Flash Outdoors: Don’t be afraid to use your flash in daylight – it can lighten shadows under someone’s hat, add a sparkle to their eyes and so on – give it a try! Conversely, don’t always use a flash at night – natural lighting can be beautiful, but keep your camera steady!

Leading Lines: Strong lines or curves flowing into a photo from its edges help lead the viewer’s eye through your scene to your subject. A fence line, a trail of footsteps – it’ll draw their gaze into your photo.

Break the Rules! Photography is an art, not a science, so be creative – sometimes the best shots obey none of the ‘rules’ of photography at all! So dare to be different, but good photographers know the rules they are breaking when doing so.