The difference between someone who simply takes pictures occasionally with their phone and a professional photographer is not the equipment. A great photographer can take better pictures with a phone than a bad photographer can take with a high-end DSLR. Many people upgrade and buy an expensive DSLR, and then come away disappointed when they can’t recreate the great images they see others take. A quality camera definitely helps, but before you buy an expensive DSLR you should understand what it takes to be a great photographer.

Anybody can take a great photograph, but professional photographers generally don’t rely on luck. In order to take consistently high-quality images a great photographer must have the technical skills of photography.

Non-photographers will sometimes assume that someone took a great image because they own a great camera. It is really frustrating when you show someone an image and they say “Wow! Nice picture. You must have a really good camera.”

A good camera won’t help you if you don’t understand the basic of photography and how to use the camera, regardless of the type of camera you are using. There are countless videos on You tube that explain the basics of photography such as aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc. You can learn any aspect of photograph you want by utilizing You tube.

To be a great photographer you must understand your camera. Read through the manual and force yourself to learn every aspect of what your camera can do.

An unbridled passion for photography is ingrained into the best photographers. A willingness to continually increase your photography skills is mandatory, but with passionate photographers they often NEED to take pictures. If you’d rather be out taking pictures then relaxing at home, then your on the right track. If you would turn down sex from Gal Gadot in order to play with the newest and most expensive camera on the market, then your passion would definitely be unbridled.

You can’t force passion, you can only fake it. If photography is not your passion, well that is definitely OK. We all have different passions that we pursue, but you may find simply documenting your passion through photography will also help to increase your photographic skill level.

For example, if you are interested in classic cars, and love going to car shows, then the simple act of photographing the cars that capture your interest can help drive you to become more passionate about photography simply because you want to illustrate the cars you see in the best artistic manner possible.

A great photographer will be curious. Curious about experimenting with camera settings. Curious about new angles and lighting techniques. Curious about editing within Lightroom. Curious about exploring new areas to photograph. Curious about people.

Curiosity will help any photographer become better as long as you embrace it.

Passion and ambition of go hand-in-hand with each other, but you can have passion without ambition. Maybe you want to become the best portrait photographer in your town. Maybe you ambitious to get 100,000 followers on Instagram. You could be ambitious about simply photographing your own family and wanting to create the best images possible to help preserve the legacy of your family for future generations.