What’s the first book? Your camera’s manual. Read it until the cover falls off. Read it until you have it memorized; until you recite it in your sleep.

I couldn’t agree more. But if you’re shooting Nikon, get Thom Hogan’s guide for your model — and read that to death. IMO those books are what should have come in place of the Nikon manual. Be prepared to be surprised at all the things your camera can do.

I’ve always thought that half a shot comes from visualizing what you want as a framed part of what you see — and the other half is not screwing it up technically. The easiest way to ‘not screw it up’ is to learn your camera the same way you’d learn to hit a baseball or shoot hoops. Practice until it’s all automatic. Then practice some more.

And… although not free, there are some low budget things you can do. If you’re cash-limited (like the rest of us) at least shoot with something that lets you control both speed and aperture from the outside of the camera (no menu-diving). In the Nikon world that’d be a D90 ($100-ish on eBay) and a ‘D’ series F-mount lens, maybe a 50mm (the 1.8 is $75-ish, the 1.4 is $150-ish). The 1.4 is a much better lens, but it won’t keep you below $200 for an entire system.

Yes, the D90 has limited dynamic range, but, learn to nail exposure on this, and it only gets easier. Yes, I’m suggesting a fixed focal length, but having that limitation and learning to ‘zoom with your feet’ will also help — and learning how to play with perspective with a zoom lens can come later.

If your budget is more like $50 total, a Minolta A2 has separate aperture and speed dials, plus S-priority and A-priority modes. Great learner camera.