Choose interesting subjects. If you can't remember what a photo is or why it was taken, there probably wasn't any point in taking it in the first place. For travel pictures in particular, figure out what really makes the place unique. Make it personal. Don't just duplicate the pictures that have already been taken a thousand times. You will not be able to do better than the guy who is taking pictures from a helicopter at sunset.

Once you have a subject, simplify. Learn how to remove the distractions that might draw attention away from your subject or confuse your message. If you're shooting black and white, make sure your subject is interesting enough and simple enough for black and white. In a lot of ways, it's harder to take a good black and white picture than a color one because the lack of color forces the viewer to concentrate more on tonality and composition, aspects of photography which take a bit of practice.

Does your shot tell a story? Does the subject mean anything to you or anyone else? Does your shot offer a unique perspective?

Some photographers make a career out of stock photography, but if you want your work to be more personal and distinctive, take a moment to think about why you are taking the shot. Developing your "eye" as a photographer comes from taking a hard look at your own photos and other people's photos and learning how to define what it is that you like and don't like about it.

Find the nearest photograph. Your gut will tell you right away if you like it or not. But WHY? What is it specifically about the photo that works or doesn't work? Critical thinking will help you develop your eye before you even pick up your camera.

Before you snap the picture, take a moment to be critical. Make conscious decisions about framing, focus, depth-of-field, color. If it doesn't seem like you made any conscious decisions in your photos, they probably won't work. On the flip side, when you look at a good photo that someone else has taken, you should be able to figure out what decisions the photographer made to make the image work. Again, be critical.

Some general guidelines:

• Observe the common rules for composition. Don't put anything along the edge of the frame or right in the middle. Break the rules only when you have a good reason for doing so.
• Examine color. Is it vibrant or dull? Do you want it to be vibrant or dull? What can you do to change it?
• Examine depth-of-field. Is it shallow or deep? Do you want it to be shallow or deep? What can you do to change it?
• For portraits, always focus on the eyes. In conversation, people always look at one another in the eyes. It's the same when you're looking at a face in a photograph. If they eyes are out of focus, we can't make a "connection" with the subject. If they're not looking at you (the viewer), what are they looking at? If you're unsure, that also breaks the "connection" with the subject.

What kind of camera and lens do you need? What camera settings do you use?

Conceptually, cameras aren't complicated, but some people just don't have a knack for gadgets. Unfortunately, it takes a certain amount of technical ability to operate a camera properly and get the best results out of it that it is capable of. Read the manual, experiment with the settings. Don't worry, there's usually a way to set everything back to the factory defaults.

Realize that ISO, aperture, shutter speed, and filters all work together to control exposure. Changing one of those components usually has predictable effects, but every change produces side effects. Learn what does what so that you can figure out which trade-offs are acceptable for the photo you are trying to take.

Just before you're ready to take your shot, previsualize. Have some idea what you want the finished result to look like before you snap the photo. Eventually, you'll get to the point where you'll have a very good idea what the photo is going to look like before you even take it. And you'll be able to change the proper settings on your camera without even thinking about it.

OK, now you can snap your photo. :)

In the end, almost every photo will benefit from some degree of post-processing on the computer, so having technical ability there helps as well. But don't overdo it. Post-processing rarely makes a bad photo good. You are your best teacher. Take advantage of the digital medium and look at your shot right after you take it. Did it turn out the way you were expecting? Why not? What do you need to change to get what you want?

Show your photos to family, friends, and strangers. Join online communities like Flickr. Learn how to take criticism, and learn when to ignore it.

Make photographer friends. Shoot with them, learn from them. Join local photo groups. Enter contests (after reading the fine print and making sure that you are not giving away all of the rights to your images by submitting them). If you practice these steps enough, the whole process eventually becomes automatic. Then it becomes a constant process of refining and perfecting your style. Anne Geddes sums everything up quite elegantly:

Never give up. Be an individual and find your own style. Look at the great photographers in the world today and you'll see maybe a dozen or so whose work is instantly recognizable...you can say, yes, that's Annie Leibovitz, Arnold Newman, Herb Ritts, or Robert Mapplethorpe. In a word, "signature." I believe that no one can ever give you an eye for photography. There are people who can "see" and it's a gift. By observation and study, you can learn the technique, but you must reach inside yourself to find the emotion, the essential element for a photograph to make a difference.