Anyone with money can consider themselves a photographer these days. All you need to do is sink some cash into a big DSLR with a serious-looking lens, and you're ready to strut around the park with your equipment snapping hazy shots of your legging-clad friends as they climb trees, chase birds, and throw sticks and scream at inanimate objects. If anyone asks what you are doing the answer is always "art". Then what you need to do is open up a flickr account and a tumblr account and start distributing your genius to the digital masses.

But what if these online communities aren't receptive to your talent? Might you be doing something wrong? Maybe your models weren't dressed well enough (belted dresses are so 2008) or maybe the day was just too cloudy to really bring out your vision of the omnipresent ennui of our generation. There are many factors that can go awry when you are taking your first steps into the buzzing and cutting-edge world of photography. Photographer Ivars Gravlejs has graciously enumerated 78 tips that can help beginners avoid common pitfalls. They're even illustrated with helpful examples of what to do and what not to do. 

The secrets of good photography are many and they are all very well-protected. This revelatory list brings many never before seen tactics to light. For example, not many people know of number four: "when you take a picture, it's better to hold the camera straight." Its introduction to public knowledge may alter the scene of contemporary photography as we know it. "It is better to photograph clouds when there are clouds" (number 20) and "it's better not to photograph when you are drunk" (58) also opened my eyes to the inner workings of a creative mind. New photographers privy to these tips now have an extra edge over the rest of the untalented rabble. I can only imagine the stunning and revolutionary work that newly educated artists will now produce.