Well, if it helps at all, I can tell you that the only way to learn how to take good pictures involves taking loads of bad ones. The great joy of digital is that it reduces the time betwen the experiment and the result thus accelerating the learning curve. I learnt photography with film starting in 1971, got my first digital in 1998 and changed over almost completely only two years ago. I have probably learned more in the last two years than in the previous 34 though all the basic rules are the same!
  