Want to know one of the secrets to successful shots of people? That's easy. It's them.

What I mean by that is that the art to capturing a great shot of someone is simply finding a way to let their good self shine through.

You see, when someone feels good it shows in their eyes, their facial expression and their body language. And this means that the more relaxed someone is the better chance you have of capturing that great shot of them.

So how do we get someone relaxed enough to get a good shot of them?

Composition wise, medium to close creates good angle for people. There's nothing worse than a picture being too far away. What's the point of that if you want to really see who someone is in a photo?

In good pictures you can see the person's whole face clearly without any sense of trying to get a better look. The eyes are the thing that the composition falls around so make sure the persons eyes are the main feature, not the nose or mouth.

If you want to get creative then try taking shots of them from a front/side angle and in sepia or black and white. Changing the color of the pic adds a new definition and depth to emotion of the person.

Just remember that color is just one thing you can do. If your camera has only one setting, then you can ask a photo lab that specialises in digital prints to do you two prints of the same picture; one in black and white and one in sepia. (My lab charges me 64c for a 6x4 print. Very good value.)

With lighting, you need a fairly good amount, such as a flash at a medium distance away, such as under 3 meters, good focus, and the color of the digital image is important.

Its ideal to get the lighting right around the whole person such as reflective, soft light coming from a window for example. Window light is actually a great place to start if your person is indoors.

For outdoor light and people photography with digital, try to take the picture when it's not direct sunlight, as this hard light may cast unnecessary shadows.

There's nothing worse than a great shot of a person with a huge shadow of their nose that you can't take your eyes off. It's not very flattering.

Getting your person to feel comfortable around you is another issue too. If they want a good picture taken of themselves then make sure it's not a posed picture, as relaxed ones will bring out the fun, happy side of them.

And have fun. There is no reason you can't enjoy yourself or be relaxed yourself when taking someone's picture. Once you have all the components right and they feel comfortable then you will have a great picture.

A few tips...

- Shoot at a focal length of around 50mm-80mm depending on your camera's sensor size.

- Use a diffusser with your flash.

- Focus on your subject's eyes.

If you don't follow these vital (but simple) tips, you'll make the same mistake that countless other beginner photographers make and your pictures won't turn out the way you want them to.

That's why you owe it to yourself to check out Amy Renfrey's guaranteed photography training package here:

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Happy shooting, Mark McKnight