Photography Tips?

[Rooski]

Yes, what bendix said!

About the only time I find it easy to get a good blurred backgrounds (bokeh) with a small sensor digicam is with close ups, and macros.

like this:

On the other hand, having the ability to obtain a super great DOF can be advantages.

Like landscapes, as bendix mentioned, or if you wanted your wife, in the background, to be just as much part of the shot as the duck's butt, in the foreground:

 

[12bcruzin]

Just a case of posting 1/2 asleep...you guys have all posted great tips and I missed the effort to achieve bokeh...my reply was more in regards to the effort of capturing the best and fleeting light with a PnS...

 

[g-ratter]

Best light is usually early morning or late afternoon. It will be a softer light at these times so you will still get some shaping from shadows but they will not be pitch black. I like afternoon shooting because it allows you time to set up your shoot,taking some test shots to look at the composition before the light gets good.
This pic was shot near sunset. Also notice the background does not have to be complete blown out. Just a slight out of focus will help pop the bike out. This was shot with a 50mm f1.8 lens on a Cannon 50D.

Also the bright overcast days that some one already mentioned if you need to shoot in the middle of the day.

 

[Motopecane]

A few of you caught on to what I was getting at. Unless you have some really nice point in shoot you can't get a narrow depth of field (small area of focus). I was speaking merely if you have a DSLR. Also at some point you have to understand that your point and shoot was cheap because it has limitations. The best thing you can do is learn to work with those limitations.

Someone mentioned it above that a tripod is helpful. This will in most cases make your shots just a little bit better for a few reasons.
You can

-Eliminate camera shake
-Keep horizon lines parallel more easily
-Keep the same spot in focus more easily