Exposure?
Why, you may be wondering, are we making such a big deal of exposure when it comes to landscape photography?.
For most photography, you the photographer, generally don't need to be overly concerned about proper exposure. Exposure is the amount of light that falls onto the image sensor of a digital camera.
Usually, the default setting for exposure is automatic. And, for the majority of your photographs, the automatic default will produce beautiful pictures.
However, when the lighting conditions are challenging (as in landscape photography), the automatic setting may not produce an optimal photograph. The problem is that image sensors cannot record the entire range of contrast (black to white) that the human eye can see. And, landscape photography typically brings out a huge range of contrast.
Your digital camera performs the daunting task of recording as much information as possible. By doing this, the camera's "factory installed instructions" will try to average out all the light levels and expose the image accordingly.
Without a doubt, composition is the most critical factor in creating great landscape pictures.
Although all the technical aspects of landscape photography are important, their main purpose is to insure that your composition is accurately transferred into a digital image the way you want it to be.
Bear in mind that depending on what model digital camera you have, you may not have much control over certain photographic functions. Does that mean you should pack up your camera and slink on home? What do you think?
You can still take great landscape pictures, but there will be more limitations and challenges to deal with. However, you can still get creative and see how your landscape photography continues to improve.
When and if you ever upgrade to a digital SLR or more advanced non-SLR camera, you will have working knowledge of the features you want in order to make it easier capturing pictures in nature.
Taking indoor family photography, is very different than outdoor family photograph (duh!). 
1) Prepare For The Event
Prepare for the event by thinking about every photograph you want to take and what kind of photography pose or poses you would like to capture. Consider who, where, how, and the type of environment.
Lighting is the third key ingredient. Photos that win competitions almost always show a skilled use of light. Try to photograph only at dawn, in the late afternoon, and at dusk, when the low angle of the sun produces rich, warm colors and long shadows. Avoid shooting at noon, a time when light is very "flat."
Simplicity is actually a deceptively difficult element to capture. What you as a photographer need to do is let the camera help you simplify the things you see in front of you. You begin with a very busy canvas (everything in view) and have to work to simplify by eliminating some of the contents. You can do this either by getting physically closer to your subject, or by using a telephoto lens to zoom in and crop the shot tighter. When you photograph a person, for example, photograph his or her face only, rather than the whole person.
Another example of natural perfection... men I wanna look like that on a picture! what do you think? besides, amazing lightning and facial expresion... pure art!
