[PnwGuy]

Read, shoot, read, shoot, read, shoot. That's my approach.

Planning your shot can take as little as one second or up to several days. But as Nicole pointed out, being prepared to get the shot is probably the biggest factor. This proved very true with my eagle shot.

I think the first big step you can take is to learn to shoot on manual. A big part of planning your shot is to decide on which exposure setttings to use.

Are you taking a landscape shot which often entails a large depth of field, or are you trying to isolate your subject from its surroundings? Do you need a fast shutter speed to stop motion, or a slow shutter to create a blur effect on a waterfall? Once you have this down the rest starts to fall in place.

The one book that made the biggest difference to me, and made me realize how easy and important it is to learn to shoot using manual, is Understanding Exposure by Brian Peterson.

When the settings becomes second-nature, you spend more time on composition and creative shooting and you will see a big improvement in your shots.