As straightforward as it is encouraging, this concise guide to the art and science of photography can help anyone take a good photo, regardless of the camera they are using.

Photography has never been so easy—or so hard. While virtually anyone with a smartphone has the ability to take a photo, most of us don’t know how to take a great one.

Free of intimidating technical jargon, and filled with suggestions, examples, and helpful illustrations, this book offers everything the average person needs to deliver a well-executed, interesting, and thoughtful image.

Its concise chapters explore the anatomy of digital, film, and smartphone cameras; photo editing apps and lenses; and the basic principles of composition, light, and exposures times. It offers pointers on different types of images, such as portraits, landscapes, still lifes, and travel photography, and a list of projects at the end of the book will inspire readers to put what they learn into practice.

Throughout it encourages readers to see the world as a photo opportunity, and to develop a photographer’s eye in every situation. Because the most important element in the picture-taking process is not the sophistication of the camera, but the creative vision of the person holding it.