Choose The Right Camera Settings

Most digital cameras have a "portrait mode" built in, activate it by turning the mode dial to the portrait icon (usually a person's head). It draws attention to your subject by blurring the background.

Go to maximum telephoto, zoom all the way in. This makes the background blur even more, please do not use "digital zoom." That should be the first thing you disable on your camera.

Turn h flash off. You want to literally force the flash to fire, this will soften the shadows on your subject's face and add a gleam to his/her eye. Forcing the flash is usually very easy to do and involves pushing the flash mode selector button until the flash mode indicator displays the "will flash no matter what" icon (usually a lightning bolt) as opposed to the "will flash if necessary" icon (a lightning bolt with an "A" next to it). On many cameras there will also be an option to force the flash in red-eye reduction mode (a lightning bolt plus an eye but no "A"). Do this if available.

More About Light

To take a great picture you need more than just the light from your camera's flash. To get it, go outside in the daytime. Sunny, cloudy, it doesn't matter. Indoor light is often insufficient for good photography, so do yourself a huge favor and step outdoors.

Once you're outside, place your subject such that the sun is behind and to one side of them. If the sun is in front of them they will squint and that's not the expression you want to capture. If you put the sun directly behind them you may get direct sunlight in your lens, resulting in strange artifacts on your photo. Placing the sun behind the subject and to the side usually works well. I find that the sunlight from behind, combined with the light from the flash in front, make for a pleasantly lit subject.

*** If possible take your picture in the early morning or the late afternoon. The light at these times makes for the best photography.

Composing And Shooting

Frame your shot so you get just the subject's head and maybe their shoulders. .

If you can, try to shoot where the background is as far away as possible. This also helps blur it and draw attention to your subject.

Now that your camera is set, you have good light and you've framed your shot it's time to shoot. Hold your camera steady and push the shutter release button only halfway down. Pushing the button halfway down tells the camera to figure out the auto-focus and auto-exposure stuff. Once the camera tells you that it's done all that (usually with a green light, a beep or both) you can push the button the rest of the way down.

Conclusion

Take several shots! To make sure I get at last one good one I take as many as my subject has patience for. That's usually at least three.