In a few days I'm getting my first camera, I've never had one for myself before. Usually when taking pictures I just clicked away without really giving it a second thought, but now that I'm getting my own, I want to start making better pictures. What are your tips for making good shots?

1. look at as many good pictures as you can. Books, web. Famous photographers, not so famous. Look, think, analyze. Why is this picture good? What pictures do I like? Landscapes or people, abstracts or reportage. Internalize. be conscious of what draws you to which kind of photography.

2. Copy and practice.

3. As time goes by, less and less copying and more originality.

4. Keep practicing. That means shoot as much and as often as you can. Do it till you die.

To paraphrase Ansel Adams: Great photography is often the product of "chance meeting a prepared mind."

So are you getting a Digital SLR or just a cheaper "normal" camera? If you want "higher" quality photos, get a Digital SLR. Most of them start out at around $600 U.S. But that's the basic SLR's, which are still good.

I'm not super experienced, but I'd just say that when taking every picture, think about the angles... Parallels, and curves and stuff...

Also think about the colours involved. Sometimes having a lot of reds in a shot but having one object that is blue or green or something adds a lot of contrast to a photo.

Think about contrasts. Nature:urban or Darks:lights or Old:new etc.

make sure you have the right exposure in your pictures. Not too bright, but not too dark. So take sample pics of something to make sure its a good exposure level.

Can you post a recent taken picture? Then i can tell you what improvements you could make. The best way to learn is from your own examples. ;)

Thanks for your tips so far, they're very helpful.

So are you getting a Digital SLR or just a cheaper "normal" camera? If you want "higher" quality photos, get a Digital SLR. Most of them start out at around $600 U.S. But that's the basic SLR's, which are still good.

I bought an entry-level camera, because I figured as a beginner I won't be able to get the most out of more expensive models anyway. It's a Canon Powershot A460.

Can you post a recent taken picture? Then i can tell you what improvements you could make. The best way to learn is from your own examples.

I just got the camera today, so here is one I made a few minutes ago from my bedroom. To my untrained eye it looks good, but hopefully you have some advice to improve it. Mind you I resized it with Irfanview, would Photoshop give a better quality?

http://home.orange.nl/~kuip3148/IMG_0026.jpg

Another question that I couldn't find the answer to in the manual, when I press the button that you shoot pictures with very gently, a small box appears on my LCD screen. If I do it again it might be two boxes or one in a different position. What exactly is it?

Once I attended a talk given by a professional photographer and he advised us to look at paintings to get an idea of how to compose a picture. His rationale being that photography is just a medium. The principle behind composing a photo is the same as those for paintings. And of course practice, practice, practice.

To my untrained eye it looks good, but hopefully you have some advice to improve it.It is more like a quick snap-shot. I don't really know what i should judge. The only thing i can say immediately is that the picture is slightly overexposed (too bright). You can see that very good on the cat, it is not really a cat but a white spot on the pictureMind you I resized it with Irfanview, would Photoshop give a better quality?Irfanview is a good program for quick photoshopping. I use it also. Problem with Irfanview is when you want to resize pictures which are containing thin lines, like telephone lines. When you resize such a picture with irfanview, the lines may get very 'blocked'. (English is not my native language, but because you are Dutch i think you'll understand me :))
Another question that I couldn't find the answer to in the manual, when I press the button that you shoot pictures with very gently, a small box appears on my LCD screen. If I do it again it might be two boxes or one in a different position. What exactly is it?Well, i really don't have a clue ;)

Mind you I resized it with Irfanview, would Photoshop give a better quality?PhotoShop would cost more than your camera, I think it would be overkill to get it for a minor improvement in resizing quality.

Another question that I couldn't find the answer to in the manual, when I press the button that you shoot pictures with very gently, a small box appears on my LCD screen. If I do it again it might be two boxes or one in a different position. What exactly is it?The boxes are showing you which parts of the scene the focus has locked onto.

Ramses is right about the over-exposure in parts of the photo - the cat has lost detail and you can also see the same effect where the sun is reflecting off the ivy leaves in the foreground. This review (http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/A460/A460A.HTM) also found that the A460 can over-expose highlights when shooting in bright sunlight, so it might be a good idea to put the camera into M mode and set the exposure compensation to -0.3EV for outdoor daylight work.

The photo isn't bad, but it needs a strong main subject to draw the eye. It looks like you intended the cat to be that subject, but it kind of gets lost among the background. This is a pretty common problem for beginning photographers. Some of the other posters here have suggested looking at other photos and art to get an idea of how to compose an image - this is good advice. I'd also suggest looking at comics as these will show you side-by-side examples of how different framing is used for different subjects. And a really simple rule - a subject filling the frame is often more interesting than one isolated in the middle, so try getting in close and positioning your subjects a little off-centre.

Thanks again for the advice, I was just about to ask how to compensate for the over-exposure as well. Very helpful!

you also might want to start by shooting very simple objects, very easy subject matter ect. Composition is the biggest part of photography, not mega-pixels or what brand camera you use...so study some magazines and pick up on what people are doing. Once you have figured out some decent composition, check your lighting...don't use a powerful flash which can 'white' things out thru a shot of overexposure...use natural lighting as you can position objects to give the most depth perception and definition.

There are a few tutorials from Ken Rockwell and Cambridge Colour online...give you a good idea of the basics.

good luck and the more you shoot...the better it gets :)