This excerpt from The Five C's of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques by Joseph Mascelli kinda below my mind with how easily it explains good composition.  It really does cut through all those "rules" (which have their place for sure, but I think boil down to this overall theme of simplicity described below).

“The secret of good composition can be explained in one word: simplicity. A complicated or cluttered composition, even though it obeys all rules of good composition, will not be as effective as a simple one. Simplicity does not imply starkness. A simple composition is economical in use of line, form, mass and movement; includes only one center of interest; has unified style which harmoniously integrates camera angles lighting, tonal and color values.

Fall is an amazing time to photograph landscapes and nature, however, just pointing the camera at the pretty colors is not likely to get you a wall hanging.  Even if it does, it's just a wall hanging like a thousand others.  So what can you do to help spice up the your fall photography?  Here's some ideas which may help inspire a better day of shooting on your next fall photography trip.

It’s not necessary to take a trip to somewhere exotic just to get an interesting photo.  Everyday life is filled with amazing photo opportunities and often they can be found right within your own neighborhood.   Urban areas are prime with ever changing subject matter and circumstance, so grab your camera and see what  you can find within the borders of your own city or town.  The following article is full of great advice on how to make the most from a jaunt around around town with your camera in hand.

Just a few quick pointers to help improve your portrait photographs.

• If you use strobes instead of continuous hot lights, you will get larger pupils from your subject.  Nearly always this is considered more attractive and engaging.  (note: if you can’t get the large pupils naturally you can still get them in Photoshop.)
• Try and get a “catch light” in the person’s eyes.  That is the little cresent shape highlight caused by reflections of lights in a person’s eye.  (once again, this can be done in post, but looks better if you can do it on location.)
• Use your subject’s far cheek as a background for the nose.  By this I mean don’t let the outline of a person’s nose extend beyond the cheek.  That draws lots of attention to the nose and exaggerates any imperfections.
• When shooting a full figure.  Shooting from belly button level instead of standing level will make the person look taller.

HDR Hotography is a relatively new way of taking photographs which allows for new frontiers in artistic expression by the photographer and new advances in image capture by your camera.  The basic concept of HDR is the blending of multiple exposures to produce a wider range of visible details in a photograph.  That’s the short description.  If your ready to dig into the detailed step by step instructions on creating HDR photos both in your camera and on the computer, then please read on.