Given that a few questions have been sent my way, I'll risk presumption with this caveat: I take pictures through sheer effort rather than with great depths of expertise.

My camera is a Kodak DX7590, a practically obsolete 2-year-old point-and-shoot but a versatile workhorse. Picture and video quality are great, and it’s got some manual options with room to play. It’s obliging enough, but limited. I’m starting to itch for something more advanced, a proper camera system that I can invest in with a more diverse selection of lenses.

I use Photoshop to do a quick freshening of all my pictures, to make them pop. I layer a soft light on top of the original, then play with the curves until it looks right, then flatten, resize and save. If you have the software, it's very quick and easy. That said, I never want pictures to look obviously tweaked. Too much can turn photo-taking into photo-wanking, but it all just depends on what you like.

I’m self-taught and not remotely a power-user. All of the above is a fancy way of adjusting the contrast and vibrancy of light. I also cheat through cropping: I try to be as neat as possible through the camera, but with kids you sometimes have to seize the moment without obsessing over a clean frame, and fix it later.

Here’s a before and after, with cropping and contrast adjustments available with any standard photo editing software.

See? It's like washing an ordinary picture with soap until it squeaks. Photographic palmolive.

Confession: I take a LOT of frames, especially when shooting kids. Don't get dejected when ten pictures don't capture the right face or the right moment. Take a hundred instead. Why not, with digital? You'll get it. Just make sure you ruthlessly delete the stuff that doesn’t work, to avoid clogging your computer unnecessarily.

Basic principles that are always top-of-mind for me:

1) Keep the background/setting free of clutter. If you can’t, change your position or stance to minimize it. There’s almost always a way to overcome a messy background, like shooting from a lower perspective to include more sky and less passing traffic.

2) Shoot from your subject’s point-of-view, especially with children. In this one of my sweet niece, the camera was about four inches from her face as she dug in the sand at the beach. I held the button down halfway to focus, with the camera set to 'backlit' so that it would overexpose her face (to compensate for the bright background). I shot without looking through the viewfinder, with the camera almost to the ground. A gamble, but I love the result.

Try lying or crouching down on the ground. That's where I am for the vast majority of my pictures, the camera at Evan’s eye-level or lower. Without doing that, I never would have caught this profile of him yelling at seagulls, that same day at the beach. Again, I was on my side, elbow propping up the camera, waiting for him to run past.

3) When in doubt, do two things: get closer, and get closer. Fill the frame. Watch for wasted space.

4) Wait for good light, if you’re aiming for a portrait. On a sunny day, get out of direct light. Place your subject(s) under the shade of a tree. Don't shoot at noon if you can avoid it, when the sun is directly overhead (nature's equivalent of a fluorescent big-box store). When the sun is low in the sky, early or late, conditions are much more favourable for that lovely glow.

5) Try something that seems counter-intuitive to get a picture that’s more interesting. I originally had both my friend Kelly and her spunky son in the centre of the frame, but moved the camera at the last minute to make his kiss the focal point. This isn't the most graceful of pictures, but it's one of my favourites of the two of them. It captures their spirits.

6) Be a pest. I’m all for candid, non-invasive shots, but kids often need to be prompted, surprised, ushered into a better spot, cajoled into giving me something a little extra. Ask them to be silly, or hug, or kiss, or jump up and down. Even a shy little guy will show me all his teeth if I ask him to growl like a bear.

If you’re really keen, invest in some courses or a workshop. I took photography in my spare time at Langara College in Vancouver, got about three-quarters through a continuing education diploma program with a 20-year-old pentax. It's absolutely fantastic to improve your eye and skills. Start with an introductory course, or take darkroom, or photojournalism, or anything else that strikes your fancy. I loved it, and unfortunately moved before I could finish.

Now for a few choice haunts.

Tracey, an online acquaintance and professional photographer, has a great mama-photography site where she shares plenty of tips and inspiration, much better than I ever could.

Flickr offers endless inspiration, such as this unbelievable set (if you can take gorgeous photographs of a baby in a supermarket, you’re officially my hero).

Mama Says Om is another wonderful site and companion Flickr group with creative themes every week. Anyone can submit, making for a mash-up of poetry, writing, illustration and photography. It's a very cool community of creative moms and dads, and a great way to uncover reserves of inspiration.

This will be old news to many of you, creative folk that you are. Many of you shame me with your fabulous writing and photos. What are your failsafe tricks or inspirations?