There are various ways to separate eggs. You can use a little tool, as I do, or you can crack the shell and scoop the yolk from one half to the other while letting the white slip through. The danger is that it's all too easy to puncture the yolk. Some people like to empty the yolk into their (clean) palms and let the white slip through. Do what works best for you.
Make sure no yolk slips through. If it does, discard the white. For this reason, as I suggested in step one, it's best to separate the whites first into a small bowl, then transfer them one by one to the mixing bowl. That way, if one yolk does contaminate a white, only one of the batch is affected, and you don't waste them all.
Once separated, we'll want the egg whites to come to room temperature. This takes about 30 minutes. Room-temperature eggs will be more voluminous when beaten.
