Photographer Robert Capa is famous for saying “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” This is a lesson that a lot of growing photographers learn when exploring how to improve their compositions.

Depending upon the subject matter, it can be challenge to get very close; animals, birds and insects that you will encounter in everyday life can get nervous and take off if you try to get too close to them. You might get lucky and find one who is willing to oblige and pose for you if you are careful and don’t startle it. But in most cases, a telephoto lens and a lot of patience will be a photographer’s best friends when photographing wildlife.

Photographing during the Golden Hour of the day is exciting because it can yield truly memorable and beautiful results. The beautiful first and last hours of the day-when shadows lengthen and the light becomes warm and rich from the lower position of the sun-are fleeting, so it is important to plan ahead.

Arrive at your destination well in advance and explore to determine prime spots for ideal compositions. You will lose the light incredibly fast, so don’t waste those precious minutes setting up and scouting.

Every photographer knows that expressive lighting makes the difference between a mediocre photograph and a fantastic one. Light has magical qualities and nuances, which can be manipulated, explored and controlled to create an endless variety of memorable visual effects.

Backlighting is a great lighting scenario that can be used to create very visually dynamic photographs. You can create interesting images this way virtually anywhere –in the studio, using sunlight, a window, lamp light – wherever you have the ability to place your subject between the camera and a strong light source.

From time to time you might find yourself becoming bored with the photos that you are taking. From my experience this stagnation in my photography is a result to taking the same photo over and over. Set up tripod, set up camera, photograph the landscape. For the most part it works, but there are only so many landscape photographs that you can take before they begin to look the same.