I thought that what you saw through the viewfinder was what your picture was going to look like. Most SLR's are not WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). The majority of SLR's show less than 95% of what the final image will encompass. Because of this I was getting a lot of images with distractions at the edges of the frame. If you own a camera that shows less than 100% of the final image, besides checking the edges, you need to move the camera around to make sure there are no distracting items just outside the edges of the viewfinder.

You can check your camera's meter by pointing it due north about 45 degrees from the horizon at midday. At f/16 the suggested meter reading should be the speed of the film loaded in the camera at the time of the test. It's probably not a bad idea to check the metering once in a while. You can also check it with an inexpensive gray card (available at most camera stores)

Regarding composition, I find one of the best ways to find a pleasing composition is to approach the subject hand holding the camera and when you find a pleasing composition, set up the tripod so that the camera is back in the position where you found the pleasing composition.

"Pushing" film means setting a higher ISO than the manufacture's suggested film speed. For example you might over ride the ISO setting on Velvia (ISO 50) and set the film speed to 100. Since all the images will be one stop under exposed when you send the film in for processing you instruct the lab to push the developing by one stop. If the lab follows you instructions, your images should come back properly developed for ISO 100. Essentially, you can increase the film speed of your film by under exposing then push processing. You might consider this if you are shooting in low light and you subject won't hold still.

Circular polarizing filters are nice (especially warming polarizers) but unless your camera maker provides compatible filters you should test your polarizer by shooting a few frames of some light toned area then checking for vignetting when you get your developed images back from the lab. Vignetting is a darkening in the corners of the image and can be cause by too large of a camera hood or a polarizer which due to it's thickness, gets included in the image. If you stack two or more filters you will almost always end up with vignetting. You can buy a warming polarizer from B&W to eliminate the warming filter polarizer stack.

50mm macro lenses are nice but a 180 or 200 sure gives you more working distance between the lens and the subject. If your subject is "nervous" try increasing the working distance by using a longer focal length lens. This same concept can be applied in the reverse situation where the photographer is the one who is nervous. Use a long lens when photographing bear, poisonous snakes or hungry crocodiles.

Split neutral density filters are great for evening out lighting conditions where the a portion of the frame is more than 2 stops different than another portion of the frame. A classic example is a sunset in the Smokie Mountains. The sky will be very bright and the mountain ridges will go black in you expose the sky properly. You can compensate by using a 2 or 3 stop (Hard or Soft edge split neutral density filter). I use the plastic ones that slip into a Cokin P filter holder. This holder allows you to make vertical and angular adjustments (by rotating the holder). Some folks prefer to simply hand hold the filter during the exposure. You can also use both the 3 and the 2 stop at once if conditions warrant balancing the exposure by 5 stops altogether. When using these filters it is best to stop your lens down with the depth of field preview button and determine the precise placement of the filter edge.