Shoot the moon Winter nights are often exceptionally clear, which makes it a great time to photograph the moon.
While it looks big when viewed by the human eye, once you point a camera at it you'll realise how little of the frame it fills.
So a decent zoom lens is essential, plus a little cropping and enlargement using your image manipulation program.
To get the best results, shoot when the moon is full and from a location where there's the minimum of ambient lighting.
If you must shoot from an urban area, try doing so after midnight, when most people have gone to bed and switched their lights off.
For something completely different you can also take pictures by the light of the moon.
With their lack of colour and unusual lighting, moon images of this kind give the appearance of a totally alien landscape.
One thing you won't want to do when photographing the moon is use flash.
Though you do often see people at concerts trying to illuminate stars from the 83rd row back, their efforts are futile.
In fact, the range of most built-in flashguns is about four metres at standard ISO settings.
But that doesn't mean they can't be used outside at night.
On the contrary, by using flash to illuminate a subject, such as a person or group, in the foreground and allowing a long exposure to register a nighttime scene, such as a city skyline, you get a wonderful threedimensional effect.
And the good news is that many digital cameras feature special Night Portrait mode that works it all out for you.
Position yourself around two metres from your subject, either brace yourself or use a tripod, and fire away.
Take a look at the result and adjust your distance accordingly.
The important thing to be aware of when using flash outdoors is that the range isn't as great as indoors, because there are no walls or ceiling for it to bounce off.
Country pursuits Twilight is a great time to head off to the country and capture some great images as the sun goes down.
While the landscape in winter lacks much of the foliage and colours that make it appealing in summer, the stark shapes of trees and of the texture of the land itself more than make amends.
Shadows can play a big part in creating a sense of depth in photographs, and in winter you can take pictures when shadows are at their longest and most photogenic on almost any bright day, as the sun never rises very high above the horizon.
The secret is to find a vantage point such as a hill where you can get an aerial view of the shadows striding out purposefully across the landscape.
Another option worth considering if you want pictures with bags of impact is to have a go at creating some silhouettes.
This couldn't be easier.
All you have to do is find a scene in which the background is much brighter than the main subject - shooting into a setting sun is a sure-fire way of achieving that - but do take care to avoid flare.
What's important is that your main subject has a strong graphic shape - such as the human body, a leafless tree, a derelict machine or a statue.
Some silhouettes can be a bit bland, and adding a coloured background in the computer can be an effective way of adding interest.