A good photograph is well exposed, well composed, and sharp. You can photograph the best locations on earth, but if the images you bring back are not correctly exposed or composed, and lack sharpness, they are useless. On the other hand, a nicely composed ordinary object which is sharp and correctly exposed is a winner. This is my top 20 list of the steps you need to take to create great images.

1. Take your time. Don't just point and shoot the minute you see something you like to photograph. Look around to find the best possible angle. Look through the viewfinder and try different focal length lenses.
2. Use the ''rule of thirds'' to compose your shot. Divide the frame into thirds like a tic-tac-toe grid. Place your subject within different lines until you see the best composition.
3. Check the corners of the frame for any unwanted objects. Don't include more than it is necessary.
4. Make sure objects in the scene relate to each other. Don't include distracting colors or background or anything else that might take the viewer's attention away from the main subject.
5. Use a tripod to compose your shots. You can fine tune your composition much better than handholding your camera.
6. Don't always trust your camera meter. Remember, all metering systems want to do one thing and that is to make an average middletone result. Make necessary adjustments for lighter or darker than middletone subjects.
7. Pay close attention to the direction of the light. Photography is about light. Frontlight, backlight, and sidelight each greatly affect the results and change the mood in photographs.
8. Use spot metering for metering the most important part of the scene. If your camera does not have spot metering, use a telephoto lens to take a reading and lock exposure on manual mode. Switch to your original lens to take the shot.
9. Work in manual mode for stationary objects. You can quickly and easily adjust exposure settings. By referring to the exposure index in the viewfinder and working in stops, you can fine tune your exposure.
10. Use manual focus for stationary objects. You can pick the best focus point for maximum depth-of-field. Refer to hyper focal distance mark on your lens if it has one to make sure selected f-stop and focus point covers required depth-of-field.
11. Use depth-of-field preview to check the range of sharp focus. Use the f-stop that covers required depth-of-field and don't stop down more than you have to. Smaller f-stops require slower shutter speeds which can cause blurred images due to wind, mirror vibration, and subject movement.
12. Use a tripod for maximum sharpness. Nothing beats a tripod for taking razor sharp images. Expensive cameras and lenses are worthless in shaky hands. If your images are sharp handheld, a tripod will make them razor sharp.
13. Avoid both ends of the lens' aperture range. All lenses are at their sharpest when closed down two or three stops from widest aperture. Wide open aperture may produce soft corners while very small apertures can affect overall sharpness due to diffraction.
14. Buy the best lens you can afford. Lenses are more important than cameras. Lenses greatly affect the sharpness of images. If you need to decide on a better camera or lens, definitely go for the lens. Any currently made camera will work fine for taking good pictures, but it is the lens that produces sharp images if used with good technique.
15. Use good film. Use slower finer grain films for better sharpness. Use faster films only if you have to, such as working in low light. Try several brands and learn their characteristics. Pick the ones that you feel gives the sharpness and colors you want.
16. Use a cable release to release the shutter. By using the camera shutter release you risk shaking the camera which can result in unsharp images. Cable release lets you release shutter without touching the camera.
17. Use mirror lock up if your camera has one. When you release the shutter the mirror swings out of the way allowing light to reach the film. This can create vibrations and create unsharp images. With this feature you raise the mirror and lock it prior to exposure to prevent any vibrations. Mirror vibration is a more of a problem when using telephoto and macro lenses. If your camera doesn't have this feature, avoid speeds between 1/8 to 1/30 sec.
18. Avoid using UV or Skylight protective filters. All lenses are at their sharpest without any filter attached. Filters degrade image quality to some degree. Cheap filters turn an expensive lens into a cheap lens.
19. Use quality filters. Polarizers, graduated neutral density, close-up filters, are great tools for improving your pictures as well as many other types of filters. Buy the best you can afford and use them one at a time.
20. Use a lens hood at all times. Lens hoods reduces flare and protect the lens from scratches.

Digital Photography Expert Techniques (O'Reilly Digital Studio)

• Understanding your digital camera from the inside out.
• Creating effects with the camera: making panoramas, high-resolution matrixes, infrared photos, and more.
• General composition and managing your workflow.
• Using the digital darkroom and Photoshop CS to make your images professional caliber.
• Understanding the power of Photoshop CS selections and masks.
• Using special effects to save what's good, and get rid of the bad and the ugly.
• Creating fictitious photos: bend and wrap images to fit an object, insert a more interesting skyscrape, and more.
• Professional color and tonal management
• Creating portfolios and presenting your images on the Web.