I found out the hardway, on my daughters first birthday that you never know when your camera may break. I now always get a disposible camera or have a back up camera for special events. -- Teri R., Omaha, NE

I like to take outdoor pictures of my children just after the house has barely gone down or on cloudy days.  It is still light and let you don't have to worry about the bright sun causing shadows that can mess up your pictures.

I always carry a disposable camera with me when I attend a crop. This way when I see a really wonderful page that someone else has created, I simply snap a picture of it (with the person's permission). Put several pages side by side before you snap the picture to save on film. When they are developed, use those photo holders (like they give you at Walmart) to store these for easy viewing. Be sure to label the outside cover to cut down on searching for the one you want. You can organize them into different holders for each theme: baby, sports, holiday, pets, etc.  -- Lynnet H., of Van Buren, Arkansas

Keep a disposable camera in your diaper bag or purse. It's great for those times when you forgot your "real" camera and you usually have it with you. -- Carla K., Callaway, NB

Ask someone to take a picture of the whole family,,where ever you go, my husband or myself were always out of the picture, so we started to ask someone else to snap one of the whole family!! Now our pages are more complete, we have even taken a picture of the waiter and put him on a page too!! -- Marie J., Sarasota, FL

Don't forget to take photos of places and things. If you see an unusual car, bridge, tree, dog, etc. you will be surprised at how many times you can use them as background pages,to make stickers and etc. I especially like photos of pretty flower arrangements. I can take them in various programs and make them transparent or pull part of the color out of them and make unusual pages, cards and more. -- Thena S., Coronado, CA

When taking pictures, don't be afraid to get up close. A lot of times I'll take a picture too far away and then it will be almost too small for a scrapbook page! You might want to try to take a far away, medium and up close shot each time until you get used to what distance you should be. -- Kinsey T., Grassy Lake, Alberta

Always take double prints and then GIVE, GIVE, GIVE! I mean give them away. A friend of mine lost all of her personal possessions in a house fire. She had given those extra prints away. On Mother's day the following year her friends got together and gave them all back to her in a Mother's album. They were as they say "PRICELESS"!  - Kim L., Oxford, MS.

For outdoor pictures in most of the West, try using 100 ASA film with a 35mm camera. Because there is so much more light (less moisture and haze in the air), you can get the benefit of a finer-grained picture. Often pictures taken with faster films outdoors here are slightly overexposed, because there is so much more sky. - Nancy F., Berkley, CA

If you can, invest in a good 35mm camera and a good zoom lens. I use a 28-70mm macro zoom for all my photography. Using a zoom, you can "crop" a picture before you take it, getting the main part of the picture filled with the subject and eliminating as much of the background that you want. great for close-ups of people. If you take better pictures, you'll have better pages! - Nancy F., Berkley, CA

Try using a roll of black and white film in your camera for a different effect.  Using black and white film tends to draw attention towards the main object in the picture and away from the background.   It's also a nice change from typical color pictures and makes for some great scrapbooks pages.

Don't always put all of your new photos in scrapbooks right away.  Save some for "Timeline Pages."   Timeline pages are what I call pages where you have pictures of a single event that span several years.  For example, Halloween pictures that span 5-6 years etc. This is a great way to see the way that your family has grown and changed.

Make sure that you keep extra camera batteries handy where ever you go.  My batteries started to die on Christmas day and I missed a lot of great candid moments waiting for my dying batteries to recharge between shots.

When your children get into mischief stop and take a picture before you clean up! My 1 1/2 year old daughter came down with my lipstick in a big circle around her mouth (but not on her lips!) I stopped and grabbed my camera and now we can laugh about it!  - Jen C., Seattle, WA.

As Thanksgiving approaches, don't forget to take "before and after" pictures.  Maybe take pictures of preparing the feast, carving the turkey and then fun doing dishes together or laying around too stuffed to move!

I'm often unhappy with my pictures when I get them back and find my pictures have lots of background and the people in the picture are too small!  My pictures always turn out better when I remind myself as I'm taking a picture to take 1-2 steps closer to the main focal point (usually my children!) and then snap the picture.  Then I get more person and less background!

Always remember to take a camera with you. You never know when a perfect photo opportunity will arise and you can't depend on double prints from others.

Always get double prints and swap them with friends and family.  It's a great way to gather more pictures about an event or to gather photos with you in them!  Double prints is also a nice back up if you crop a photo and make a mistake or change your mind.