Taking photos

A friend e-mailed to ask how she can take better photographs. Hmm. Thing is, I've never taken photography classes (in the next few years, probably), so I can't really say for sure. Anyway, this is how I do it with my 6MP point-and-shoot camera. Hope this helps.

-I avoid using flash. Turn it off whenever possible, especially for night shots.
-Consider cropping. If the photo doesn't look right, there's always a way of splicing away the unnecessary fat to make it lean and mean.
-Sorry, folks, but I stick to cliches. This is alright if you're taking photos for memory's sake, but try to find a new way of looking at your subject.
-Look at how other people take pictures to develop you eye for it. Visit sites like Flickr and photoblogs.org.
-Take advantage of good weather. A little sun makes almost everything better. I find it hard to take nice pictures where I am now.
-Even if it requires you to flip through the manual, find out the modes of your camera (ex. auto, manual, sports, night, portrait, macro) and what they're for.
-If you're not satisfied with the lighting, fiddle with the white balance (ex. auto white balance, sunny, cloudy, flourescent).

That's it, pancit.