You know, as my small collection of photographs grows in Picasa, its an encouraging sign that I get an audience with steady growing pool of readers like you. And it kinda make me seek a better way to improve my skills with the Nikon D90 without going through sleeves of courses and certifications. So, here it is from what I have been reading, surfing and practicing, in bite size format. Enjoy and may your photography skills improve as you read them.
"Salable" is an industry term every photographer quickly becomes familiar with to distinguish between the everyday reality of making money versus creating those artistic competition or award winning prints which don't earn the money. Tip 1027 - Happy people whose faces you can readily see are the most salable prints. The quality of light people prefer for portraits is soft light. Tip 1028 - You should rarely photograph anyone straight on. Introduce some angle while minimizing cross-sections. Head tilts also makes normal portraits stand out.
Tip 1029 - Keep everybody's head at a different level while shooting people. Not everybody wants a masterpiece. Most people just want to remember their loved ones as happy. It's not hard to capture that with your camera, just don't stand them in hard sunlight, standing in a straight line facing straight toward the camera.