1. Have a camera with you at all times. This means you need a great point and shoot and a waterproof camera as well. I believe the number one mistake most amateur/prosumer photographers make is not having their camera at the ready, or even with them. You never know when that jaguar, etc. is going to step into view. I have captured some really great images with my little leica p&s.
2. Chase the light This is something Jack Dykinga says. Time your daily travels to put you in the most interesting places at the right time of day. Don't be afraid to wait for the light to develop.
3. Make sure your equipment is durable and protected. I wrecked a brand new lens in Nicaragua (in a bat cave of all places) because the lens cap was not on properly in the bag. I set another lens on top of the first, and it proceeded to scratch the front element to hell. That sucks. I have also seen fantastic images destroyed because of dust and hairs on the CCD. If you are on a moto, you likely only have one body and possibly a second lens. It needs to be accessible, but also well protected.
4. Don't shoot everything from the perspective of 6'1". Sinuhe taught me that. He said. "don't shoot everything from eye level" He is right. Get down low, climb up on a wall and shoot down, etc.
5. Take the camera off of green mode. Favor aperture priority and vary your depth of field to provide emphasis or remove distracting elements in the background. Find out what the sweet spot of your lens is. Most are somewhere around F8.
I think Scott's Top 5 say it all, but I'd like to add a few things to what he said
1. Have a camera with you at all times. - This is the most important step in getting photos and good photos. I'd like to add that it makes a big difference to have a camera that can stay in the 'On' mode, but go to sleep when it hasnt been used for a set length of time. I honestly dont know the last time I turned my camera off?
I cant count the amount of times I've reached for my camera, picked it up, fired off a series of shots and was able to capture something that was happening in a split second simply because the camera was on and in the ready mode.
Fast glass really comes in handy here!
To elaborate even further, when we're walking around, or driving, I look at the surroundings and set the cameras controls first. I usually have the ISO around 400, set my aperature to an f/5.6 and put the burst mode on so I know I can fire off a bunch of shots hoping to capture what ever just happened in front of us.
Once I fire off a group of shots, I will then look down to the camera and make adjustments to fine tune the shot and then try and recompose to actually grab a shot that I know I can bring home.
But too many times by this point, what ever had grabbed my attention has ended and if I wasnt able to fire off those first few shots, the entire scene would have been missed.
This also touches on what Trevor and Michael have said that you need to know your equipment like its part of your body. If something just went off in front of you, you need to be able to make those adjustments on your camera to capture it without thinking of it.
Another thing we do which will result in surprisingly good results is to shoot from the hip when in crowded places where bringing the camera up to your eye would result in a different scene or might change the persons reaction you were trying to capture.
This again goes back to having your camera on you, set to the proper settings and knowing your camera like it's a part of your body.
Know which way to point it and have it set wide enough that you're going to get the scene you're hoping for. You can crop the image later and many times the odd angle of shooting without lining everything up perfectly results in a pretty cool shot.
My #1 rule when talking with new photographers who ask why our images look different is to tell them to get a different perspective than they think. Lay down, stand up on something, put something in the foreground to lead the eye and never just stand and snap the photo the way everyone else around you is doing it.
