Camera Settings
On some cameras, you'll be confronted with a range of settings, accessible via clicking buttons. These include aperture priority, which controls the size of the lens opening; altering this allows more or less light into the lens, thus modifying the shutter speed. Shutter priority controls the camera's shutter speed, enabling you to blur photos by selecting a slow speed or freeze fast-moving objects by using a faster speed. The ISO mode, meanwhile, controls how sensitive the camera's sensor is towards light. This helps out at night for example, enabling you to add brightness to originally overly-dark images.
Avoiding Shakes
A shaky hand can ruin even the best photo, causing the image to become blurred. This shake comes mainly from your movement as you take the photo, or even just your hand as you press the shutter button. Methods to avoid this shake effect include mounting the camera on a tripod or other surface if you don't have a tripod, or using a remote shutter release. This is a cable that allows you to avoid knocking the camera as you press buttons.
Light
There's a lot to consider when it comes to light and photography. You'll sometimes want to use the camera's flash to illuminate a scene, while night photography can be enhanced by taking advantage of moonlight and shadows. Consider the angle of light, which can add coloring to a scene as well as drama, for instance if a shadow partially obscures someone's face. During the daytime, meanwhile, you have a chance to capture the rays of light that stem from sunrises, for example. You'll usually need a low speed shutter setting and a narrow aperture to get the best results while doing this.
Timing
Sometimes the exact time at which a photo is taken can have a major influence on whether it turns out just right or not. This is largely the case with outdoor shots. For example, you might attempt to capture a dusk scene, but if you take the shot half an hour too late, the image will come out too dark, while half an hour too early will miss the beautiful sunset at its peak. So it's worth experimenting with times of day, weather and other factors and working out when's best for the image you want. Dusk is an especially potent time to take photos, since your camera is sensitive to the colors found at that time of day, thus making images taken in less light clearer than we might experience at the time of taking the photo.