I prefer SMT in some case, e.g. when using veroboard it's easy to stick an 805 resistor or capacitor between adjacent tracks.
You really need a temperature controlled iron and a pair of tweezers.
Tin one pad, hold the component in the tweezers, heat the solder on the pad again and solder one pad of the SMT component. If it's a resistor or capacitor, you'll need to ensure it's flat before soldering the other pad. If it's an IC solder the one of the corners first, align the rest of the pads, solder the opposite corner and then the rest. If it's a transistor, solder the middle pin first, solder, align and solder the rest.