Digital cameras are cheaper than ever and just about everyone should have one. But here's the thing, even though cameras are better than ever how many of you are actually getting the best use of your camera? And, how many of you still wish you could take better pictures?

The nice thing is there are some really simple things you can do to improve your picture taking. Picture taking can be fun and should be fun. Here is a simple list of things you can do today to take better photographs.

1 - Know your camera. That means you should read the instruction manual. New cameras today come with many features and the more time you can spend upfront learning about your camera, the more things you will be will to do with it. Don't be lazy, a half hour or 45 minutes of reading and can really make a big difference!

2 - Take lots of pictures. Don't forget, you have a digital camera. It's not like the old days when everything was taken on film. One of the ways that some of the great photographers became great photographers is that they take hundreds of pictures of the same thing at different angles and pick the best one. You have the same opportunity. Snape many pictures at different angles and you'll be surprised at how many good photographs you end up with.

3 - When shooting sunny outdoor shots, try adjusting your white balance setting from auto to cloudy. By adjusting the setting to cloudy, the camera will automatically soft in the pictures. This softening gives you all warmer feel.

4 - Use your flash outdoors. We have been trained to use a flash only indoors or when it's a dark. But professional photographers use a flash and lights even in the daylight. The flash can fill in the dark shadows especially those created from natural sunlight.

5 - Sometimes simply turning your camera and taking vertical shots can make a big difference. Again, get experimental with a different shots in angles and you'll be surprised and how different things can look.

6 - Do not put your subjects directly in the center of your shot. Remember those elementary school pictures? When you compose your pictures, you want the picture to have balance but you also want to experiment with asymmetry.

7 - Learn how to hold your digital camera. When you hold the camera, you want to make sure that you are steadying it. Often times you need to use two hands, and sometimes you need to lecture oh bowl rest on their body to support it. Basically, think of yourself as the tripod and the more steady you can make yourself, the better your pictures will be.

8 - Read up about the "Rule of Thirds". This is the basic photographers concept, and you can use it in your picture taking.

9 - Copy others. If you see something you like, or composition style that inspires you, try to imitate it. Some of the great photographers all started by imitating the people that they liked.

10 - Join online photography communities. Get active and ask questions. Interaction is a very important thing. Trading ideas and discussing different methods will improve your picture taking. Post your photographs in online forums. This is a great way to get constructive criticism.

11 - Invest in a tripod. You can get a cheap tripod for under $20. As you get better and better at your photography, you are eventually going to want to experiment with shutter speeds. As you get better and the shutter speed slows down, the only way to keep from getting a blurry picture will be the use of a tripod.

12 - Relax. Creating undue pressure on yourself is not to make your pictures any better. Instead of waiting for the critical times when your pictures have to be great, go out and just take a bunch of pictures of every day life. By taking pictures of everyday life you can experiment. Once you have things figured out, you'll be ready for the times that the shots will matter.