I have a really simple formula to success.

There are several components - not steps - that I use to communicate this to all photographers at all levels looking to improve their "game."

As Wallen suggest a camera is important, but not as important as you might think. And it's a technique used in movie production - storyboarding. But, in the context of still photography, it is referred to as previsualization.

This requires that you look at your scene, decide what is important and what isn't, and asking yourself why am I taking THIS picture.

Forgetting about fstops, metering, autofocus, and all of the techno-babble often brought up in discussions like these - just take the picture. But don't just take one - take several, changing your position each time. If possible change the time of day - early AM/PM, night, cloudy/sunny, etc. You will end up with widely different images. The goal is to "study" your subject in all ways possible.

You then compare your previsualization with the outcome. And this is perhaps the most important component that will help you advance your knowledge and improve your result. Ask yourself "how close did I come to my goal?" and if not very close, "what could I do to improve the result?"

There is not enough said about self-critique in these discussions. It is intangible, uniquely personal, and difficult to pin down, as it is constantly changing.

The answers can be simply making different exposure and camera setting decisions. It could also be things you can do in post processing. It could be lighting choices. Most of the time it is all of the above.

There are many "false prophets" that claim that getting an image to look "right" straight out of the camera is the only way to go. My heart goes out to them, since no photographer, especially digital, gets perfect images in typical random settings. That notion is a golden rule for commercial and product photography where you have 100% control over lighting, but such is seldom the choice.

When I teach this, I ask everyone to bring their cellphones - nearly everybody has one. And I assign themes to shoot, then we have a group review and discussion. My first questions to each photographer is what were you trying to record, what do you want me to see, how successful do you think you were, and what can you do to improve the results. This then becomes the subject matter for future assignments.

I also strongly encourage budding photographers to look at lots of pictures taken by others, and decide what makes some pictures memorable and impactful, and others not. Then they should revisit their own work with the same goal. It's important for every person with a camera to understand that the camera is a means of recording stuff, but more importantly, it is a communication tool. How the person viewing the image you make is probably even more important than how you view your own work - the more empathy a photographer has, usually the more effective a photographer is.

It's not about the camera - I can teach a chimpanzee to take snapshots. It's all about thought, previsualization, self-critique and constant improvement.

I wind up a semester with two quotes - One from Ansel Adams who wrote, “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.” And my own take, "you are improving your skills as a photographer if you can look at your work from year to year and see improvement."

I share a bunch of links to "contemplative photography" and the one below, for inspiration.

https://shuttermuse.com/42-inspirational-ansel-adams-quotes-photography/

All the technical aspects of photography are more easily learned once you have a purpose for learning them.