[ianpinion]

Andrew, I first started taking photographs when I was eleven years old, had my first film SLR camera when I turned thirteen and used film SLRs right up until my early thirties. I'm now forty and been using a DSLR for the last three and a half years after rediscovering my love of photography using a succession of digital compacts over a period of nearly five years.

It takes time to develop your eye for a picture, but once you understand the rules of composition it does become a little easier. So have a read up on the Rule of Thirds, try to place your main subject off centre, look out for intersting diagonals that help lead your eye into the picture and look for things like overhanging trees to frame your shot. If you do that, you will start to see what a difference it makes in producing an image that is pleasing to the eye.