I have not attended any photography course, not read even a single book on photography, nor own a SLR like camera.
But still for starters(because I definitely don't belong to that category), I feel that following tips would help them to understand photography in general(at least would shorten their learning curve). These are applicable for the Point and Shoot cameras(PAS), which most of us use. PAS is the term used for cameras that offer very basic manual settings and usually have 3x-5x optical zoom(and are affordable).
Things to look for while buying a new camera -
1) Never go only for brand names. 'Models' are good or bad, not brands. Though percentage of good models that a brand produces vary. On this standard, Canon, Nikon, and Sony are good brands, in the same order(thats not my personal opinion, thats what I found on internet)
2) Mega pixel does not indicate quality! You can find more information about this fact around internet. Megapixel means you are capturing more information(ie quantity) and not quality. Any mega pixel count past 5 is fine. And you probably wont notice the difference(unless you crop it, or zoom in, on actually print it on A4 size paper!). Other parameters for the quality are - color reproduction, level of detail, compression method, algorithm used(all these are image parameters, there are camera parameters too, like anti blur mode, image stabilizer etc)
3) Color reproduction is essential. Most of the point and shoot cameras(referred as PAS hereafter) don't support hue adjustment. And neither of them produce colors perfectly. Hence before buying ensure that colors that you see in the photograph are as close to real life as possible. Bad color reproduction means bad image quality (for me at least)
4) Time between two photographs, or how fast you can click consecutive photos is another measure that you would look for. Especially in India, when we try to capture that exact moment in festive season... it becomes really irritating to ask people to repeat/ or stop that moment for more than 3-4 seconds just to click a photo.
5) Auto focus hit rate should be high. Some cameras are really slow in this task, and some fail to do so for apparently no reason (low lighting could confuse camera and this is one reason that is expected, though). This is important, because in PAS cameras, you don't have any option to adjust the focus. If camera does not get it correct, then there is nothing much you can do, except clicking multiple photos and crossing your fingers that one of them would be good. Ensure that auto focus is working reliably.
6) Size, battery life, view finder, LCD size - These are other few things you should look for. Size should be small enough so that you can slide it into your pocket occasionally. Battery life should support at least 100 photos without flash. And preferably it should have view finder so that you can save battery(for more information - LCD consumes a lot of battery power, you can switch it off, and use view finder instead), if you need to. You can review your photograph more easily and with lesser time on bigger LCD.
7) Battery life indicator - some cameras have only have two/or three level indicators, i.e. they would start complaining only when battery is empty. This is annoying as you cannot plan your photos in such a case. When there is battery low warning, you would hardly be able to click a few(around 10-20 in most cases) photographs.
Tips to click a good photograph -
Probably you can find better tips elsewhere, but here are a few tips from my side, which are not very technical and which are especially applicable for PAS cameras.
1) Never use flash, if you want 'real' photographs. Flash illuminates objects in inconsistent manner(the flash that is built in). Hence avoid flash as long as possible.(of course, there are situations where using flash would get you better photos than not using it).
2) While capturing the photo, 'half press' the capture button. This would focus your camera on the subject. Now wait for the moment that you want to capture and then at that moment press the button completely. This way you can capture the exact moment. If you do this process in one go, then camera first focuses on the subject and then captures the image. This focusing process requires time and this is the reason photo appears to have been captured after you have pressed the button. Understand the working and you can click better pictures...
3) Never have source of light in front of the camera. PAS cameras have light sensor, which adjusts the exposure time. If light is in front, then camera thinks that there is enough light, and reduces exposure time. But your subject is not exposed to light and hence subject appears black.
4) Night mode is of no use! Understand this. Night mode increases the exposure time to almost(and at least) 1/4 sec. You cannot hold your hand still for such a long period. and hence images captured would always be blurry in such cases. Use flash in such cases. Keep camera on usual setting(auto) and try to keep your hand steady. This would give you the best possible photo(auto mode automatically adjusts the necessary settings).
5) If you find your first photo unsatisfactory, click 2-3 more. Usually camera would click better photo next time. This happens as internally camera adjusts all the parameters for each photo, but this process takes some time, and not perfect always.
6) Ask your subject to be still if there is insufficient light. Camera increases exposure time in low light conditions, and hence if the subject moves, you would always see blurry/ghost images.
7) Use only optical zoom, digital zoom is marketing gimmick. Using digital zoom is like cropping the image. Also make sure that your hand is steady when you zoom in. Zooming makes camera very sensitive to hand vibrations(and it is directly proportional to zoom factor). To understand this, think about angle...
8) No digital camera can captures crystal clear images indoor. Indoor light is always insufficient for camera, and hence 70% of the times your images wont be crystal clear, unless you take enough care.
9) And last, but very important, composing, angle and lighting are the things that make a great photo. Any average camera can produce excellent photograph... it depends more on the photographer than camera! Understand and accept this!
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