There was a time when taking a photograph required a camera, a roll of film and enough patience to wait a week before learning that somebody had closed his eyes.
Now the telephone in your pocket can take hundreds of photographs and send them to Aunt Margaret before everybody has stopped smiling.
Apple makes the iPhone. Most other smartphones, including Samsung, Motorola and Google Pixel, use a system called Android. The buttons may differ slightly, but the basic steps are much the same.
How to take a photograph
Find the Camera app. Its icon looks like a small camera or camera lens.
Tap it and make sure Photo is selected. If the camera is set to Video, Portrait or another mode, slide your finger across the choices until you reach Photo.
Hold the phone upright for a tall picture or turn it sideways for a wide one.
Aim the camera at whatever you want to photograph. Tap the person or object on the screen to tell the phone where to focus.
When you are ready, tap the large round button near the bottom of the screen. This is the shutter button. On most smartphones, you can also press either volume button on the side of the phone to take the picture.
The photograph is saved automatically. On an iPhone, you will find it in the Photos app. On an Android phone, it may be in Google Photos, Photos or Gallery.
To inspect the picture immediately, tap the small image that appears in a corner of the Camera screen.
If you took a picture of your thumb, the floor or the inside of your pocket, congratulations. You have completed the traditional smartphone photography initiation.
How to send a photograph
Open the app you use for text messages and choose the person you want to contact.
On an iPhone, this app is called Messages and has a green icon with a white speech bubble. Many Android phones use Google Messages, although some manufacturers provide their own messaging app.
Look beside the typing box for a plus sign, photograph, camera or paper clip icon. Tap it.
On an iPhone, tap Photos after tapping the plus sign. On most Android phones, tapping the photograph or paper clip icon will open your recent pictures.
Tap the photograph you want to send. You may select more than one, but have mercy on the recipient. Nobody needs 47 nearly identical pictures of a grandchild eating mashed potatoes.
If the phone asks for permission to access your photographs, choose the option that allows access.
The photograph should now appear in the message. Tap the Send button. On an iPhone, it usually looks like an upwardpointing arrow. On an Android phone, it may look like an arrow or paper airplane.
Wait until the photograph appears in the conversation. If you see a red exclamation point or an error message, it did not send. Check your cellular or Wi-Fi connection and try again.
You can also take a new photograph without leaving the conversation. Tap the camera icon, take the picture and tap Send.
How to save a photograph someone sent you
Open the message containing the photograph.
First, tap the picture to make it larger. Look for a button marked Save, Download or Save Photo.
On an iPhone, a Save Photo button may appear beside the picture. If it does, tap it.
If you do not see a save button, touch and hold the photograph until a menu appears.
On an iPhone, choose Save or Save to Photos. You may also tap the Share button, a square with an upward-pointing arrow, and then choose Save Image or Save to Photos.
On an Android phone, choose Save, Download or Save attachment. You may have to tap the three dots in a corner of the screen before that choice appears. The download symbol often looks like a downward-pointing arrow with a line beneath it.
Now check that the photograph was saved.
On an iPhone, open the Photos app and look among your newest pictures or under Recently Saved.
On an Android phone, open Google Photos, Photos or Gallery. Look under Recent, Downloads, Messages or Pictures. If the photograph is still hiding, open the Files app and check the Messages, Downloads or Pictures folder.
Android phones are fond of filing things away and expecting you to remember which drawer they selected.
Seeing a photograph in a text conversation does not always mean it has been saved to your phone. If the message is deleted, an unsaved picture may disappear with it.
A few final pointers
Before taking an important photograph, wipe the camera lens with a soft cloth. Fingerprints can make every picture look as though it was taken through a jar of bacon grease.
Hold the phone still and give it a moment to focus. When possible, keep the main light in front of your subject instead of directly behind it (people looking into the sun makes a better photo than the camera looking into it).
Move closer instead of using too much zoom. Zooming can make a clear picture look grainy.
Take two or three photographs. Somebody will blink in the first, look away in the second and behave normally in the third if Providence is feeling generous.
Practice before the photograph matters. Take a picture of the coffee pot, send it to a family member and ask that person to send it back. Then save it.
A wrong tap is unlikely to cause serious harm. Most screens offer a back arrow or a button marked Cancel.
Take the picture. Send the picture. Save the picture.
Then write down the names of the people in it. Technology has improved considerably, but it still cannot tell your grandchildren which cousin was standing beside Uncle Earl at the family reunion.
Thomas Richard Harrison offers practical advice for every Tom, Dick and Harry, including those whose camera roll contains 14 pictures of the inside of their pocket.