4. In addition to knowing weather conditions, you will need to be prepared with a first aid kit that's appropriate for hiking you will be doing. In most cases a simple kit will do. You can pick up a simple first aid kit at a local department or sporting goods store. Or you can build you own, which should include these basics: - Different sizes and shapes of bandages and gauzes. - Various types of tape for wounds or fixing tools. - Suntan lotion. - A light emergency blanket (preferably with some kind of water resistance). - Aspirin, allergy, laxative, and anti-diuretic medications. - Small multi-use tool with a knife, scissors, and a needle and thread. - A cell phone can come in very handy in emergencies.

It's a good idea to pack all of this in a waterproof bag or container.

Using these tips, your next hiking adventure should be quite comfortable, safe, and enjoyable!

Additional information and resources for this article can be found at: http://www.dohiking.com/articles/56/4-steps-to-an-enjoyable-hike/

Use a small or white silver reflector to fill in shadow caused by overhead lighting or camera itself

Boost ISO setting to enable you to use faster shutter speeds or smaller apertures. Shots will be noisier, but images will be sharper with a larger depth of field

Use a tripod and cable release whenever possible to maximize depth of field and eliminate camera shake and ensure accurate focusing.

When using compact-style camera with an optical viewfinder, beware of problems with parallax – an effect caused when viewfinder is offset from lens. Although you may have composed your shot perfectly in viewfinder, fact that lens is in a slightly different position means that composition of finished image will be altered. The closer you get to subject, more inaccurate view through viewfinder will be.

Paul Smith has been a proffesional photograper for the last 10 years. His works are mainly published as Postcards and Calendars in Australia.