an overview.........
1. set a budget,
2. look for optical zoom over digital zoom as preference. ( minimum of 3 times)
3. 4-5 megapixels , but depending on budget 3 upwards will cope.
4. check the card type and pricing.
5. look for a known manufacturer, sony pentax,nikon,canon etc
6. a bit of legwork here really , have a physical look and hold the camera,play about with it in the shops people take pictures because they want to, if you have a camera you dont like, you wont want to take pictures !
7. once you`ve found your ideal camera, have a root about the web and get some competitive prices, and dont forget to include in your budget the extra memory card ! .
8. takes lots of model pics and post them here for us all to see.
you`ll find many people use different cameras, some people are more confident than others at taking pictures , some people just have a camera for parties ,days out etc. but you`ll find that the resolutions found on teh forum are not very high to save hosting space and enable fast page loading.
have a look at No.6 `s pictures. he uses a nikon d70 slr,but you wont see many differences between the resolution of his pics compared to compact cameras pictures posted on here. But you`d notice the difference on a pc or printed pic.
i hope this helps.
Adz..