For the past few years  I have only taken a small camera – Nikon V1, on holidays.

Our family one-week summer getaway this year was to the island of Murter, Croatia which is about 5 1/2 hours drive from Bohinj.

But this is not about our holiday but to point out some things which make and break good/great photos.

As we all know, the most important thing in a good photo is the quality of light. However, closely related to this is timing. You can have great light but if your timing is wrong then the final result can be really disappointing.

In the first photo you can see that everything is pretty decent. (click to get full screen)

A few moments later not only was the light gone, but you can see that the water is all chopped up from the waves that were made from a passing boat. Not the one in the shot but another one but you can see the point.

To salvage the situation, I waited for the waves to be calm again and even though the light was gone I re-did the composition.

And lastly, a shot showing that the Nikon V1 can make plenty decent photos.

So, good light, good timing and good composition is what’s needed. Even a small camera will get the job done.