LIGHTING

Lighting is absolutely the most important technical issue there is. Learn composition as well and you'll have just about everything you need to worry about solved. First and foremost you need to develop a sensitivity to the way light feels while you are outdoors, and learn through experience how that will look on film. As you develop this sensitivity you will be able to understand when the light looks right to capture the look you want, and when to put away the camera and grab lunch. With this ability you also will learn to be able to modify light with simple reflectors and scrims to help create your look. You need to create your own lighting in a studio or wait for nature to supply the correct lighting. The contrast needs to look very low to your eye to look OK in a photograph. Photographs pick up contrast. Only show your very strongest images. Throw away most of what you shoot. I do. Most photos are awful so throw away all but the one strongest image. You'll see that if you only save or show your strongest images that your body of work will seem to improve. Don't expect to turn out miracles every roll, or even every month.

EXPOSURE COMPENSATION

Your Lighten/Darken control. Learn under what conditions your images look too light or too dark. If you find some things always come out too light or too dark (or if the shot you just made on your digital just came out too light or dark) then here are the amounts to compensate. Proper use of flash is far more important than what kind of camera you have. Most people incorrectly leave the flash OFF in daylight which leads to harsh, ugly sunlight on the faces. Turning the flash ON in bright sunlight will help lighten the shadows to make them look much more natural. Also in backlit photos you'll be able to see the faces instead of just getting silhouettes.