Without my computer available to edited and upload pictures I am going into a small withdrawal. So inspired but some people recently asking me about taking good pictures and what kind of camera do they need, they've never shot on full manual before it scares them and what not, I decided that I would do my own "How to:" Now keep in mind a few things why we take this journey of learning together. 1:) I am not a teacher. 2:)I am not professional. 3:) I am not the know all, be all of photography (although it may seem that way at times...hahahahah). Okay on to the first thing to know.

The Camera What camera you use really only matters for as much as you let it matter. It only matters on where you rate how much control you want with your camera. I shoot with both a Nikon D80 and a point & shoot. What brand of Camera doesn't matter. Canon or Nikon they are just names. I have no preference and neither should you. But here's what really doesn't matterMegapixles. There yep I said it. Take a step back stomp your feet, yell at me for awhile and then come back to computer sit back down and we'll talk. When I was first taught to take a picture with a digital camera I was in college and the Megapixles debate was just starting. This is a grey area and many....many people in the world of cameras disagree. But let me break down for you why Megapixles don't matter.
Megapixles are the marketing worlds golden ticket they have very little to do with a picture being formed but hey sound really cool. And in a world where more is always better they just sell. When you take a picture light matters. Light is the crayola crayon to your coloring book you can't make a picture happen without it. Too much and you just get a white out of color, not enough light and it goes completely black. Think back to fifth grade when you were learning that color is made by the way light bends. White is a combination of all colors, black is the absence of color.....black is not a color (this is very hard to explain and the only one who has ever successfully explained this fact was my highly gifted brother who should just be shot when he brings this subject up) So Light Matters.
But only a limited amount of light gets through your lens to the sensor in your camera and only so many pixel can go through so the more you have the smaller they have to be smaller pixels on camera sensors means less sensitivity to light. If you cram more pixels into the same itty bitty space all at once they're not getting enough light to be useful. This will lead to noisier quality (also known as grainy). It's all about the quality of the Pixels you have. Meaning better lens, faster response time, Bigger sensor,and less shake (your movement). NASA even agrees with me (me personally too they called me up and were like "hey Air Force Wife." okay maybe not) just read this article on their Spirit Rover it works on just 1 megapixel. Now the truth is the more megapixles you have the bigger you can print it, the more cropping you can do...but seriously the difference is minimal and if you have to crop your photo down so much that it makes that big of a difference than you took a bad picture to begin with. That's harsh to hear I know. AND Once you hit 6 megapixles after that you're really just throwing your money away. I swear! So what camera do you need? This is an easy yet hard question to answer but it boils down to this; If you want a lot of control over how crisp your photos are going to be than you need to be able to control everything: aperture, shutter speed, iso. But if you don't have the interest in learning to do that stuff and you just want a good camera that will take lots of really great photos without having to need your input then you need a camera with a quick lens, a large sensor, and a fast response time (meaning you push the shutter down and it snaps the photo NO lag) you can find these in a point and shoot camera. You're not going to get as crisp a photo without being able to control the settings but that doesn't mean you won't get great photos. So my final advice buy a camera from a store who knows what they're doing....or at least go down and talk with them find the camera you want with their help and then go buy it somewhere cheaper. Always pick the camera up feel the way it feels in your hands. Do you like the weight? Do you like the placement of the buttons? Does it feel steady? does it feel right? answer these yes and the camera is perfect for you. If the store doesn't let you try out the camera you're in the wrong store and go somewhere else. Key points to remember.
1:)worry about the sensor NOT the megapixels
2:)how fast is the lens
3:)does it feel right in your hand...can you control the weight.
Unless you're going to learn to shoot manual or already know how too don't waste the money on something that's bigger than what you need.

Next we'll tackle the settings. Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, what are they and why the hell do they matter to you?