People account for the most photographed subject of all, yet very few of us know how to take good pictures of people. None of these tips are difficult to accomplish - in fact all of them are really simple and will instantly improve your ability to take pictures of people.

1) Keep it simple
Keep things simple - the less technical aspects you have to worry about, the more you can focus on the person you are photographing. Using flash can easily over-complicate things unnecessarily if you are able to use natural light. Don't use a tripod if you don't need to - just keep things simple. Focusing your attention on the person you are photographing is the first step in obtaining better people pictures.

2) Isolate the subject
Use a wide aperture and a fast lens such as f2.8 to throw the background out of focus and to place emphasis on the person you are photographing. Watch out for poles, trees and bright colors as they tend to stick out even if the background is out of focus.

3) More is better
Taking pictures of more than one person is always a good choice as it takes the emphasis off one person and helps them relax. When taking pictures of children you can get great candid shots of children playing together.

4) Learn to Relax People
Even if you have all the technical aspects nailed in your photograph it still doesn't mean you can take good pictures of people. The key to good people pictures is to have the people relaxed and looking natural. Don't try and pose your model - this will only make them look stiff. Instead, focus your attention on making them comfortable and relaxed. You can do this by putting props in their hands such as a piece of grass, a phone, a soccer ball - anything to take their mind of the camera. In the picture below I used a IPOD and asked the model to listen to some music. The result was a natural looking picture.

5) Know where to focus
Always make sure to focus on the eyes. If the eyes appear out of focus your whole picture will appear out of focus.

6) Vertical or Horizontal
Vertical pictures always look better when you are photographing one person. You get more of the body in. When photographing more than one person at a time use the horizontal format.

7) Using the right lens
Avoid using wide angle lenses when photographing people as these lenses distort facial features by making heads appear bigger than they are, and noses longer than they are. The best focal length for taking pictures of people is anything between 50mm and 135mm - with the 85mm being known as an excellent portrait lens. On a 1.6x crop camera a 50mm is a good choice. 50mm lenses are usually cheap and light, and besides this they usually have a wide aperture making them ideal lenses for photographing people.

8) Level with your subject
Always try and level with your subject - this gives the most pleasing result.

9) Make use of the preview screen
When taking pictures of people, take the time to look at the preview screen and see what works and what doesn't. Zoom in to see if the eyes are in focus, see if the person you are photographing is relaxed, that there are no poles or trees sticking out in the background, and that the lighting is even.

10) Get in as close as possible
Try and frame your subject by leaving as little background as possible. Get in close - sometimes only having the persons head and shoulders delivers the best results.