Choosing the best camera to buy requires a good amount of research. However, most modern cameras will do a good enough job, particularly if you do not want to get technical. Today, if you buy any mirrorless or DSLR, you will get a very good camera. Just skip the kit lens and buy a good general purpose one but not a super-zoom as those compromise in image quality and low-light performance. For just making nice photographers, you can get a smaller fixed-lens camera. There are plenty of premium models offering 1″ sensors which is a huge leap in image quality from the typical ultra-compact and cellphone camera.

Still, better image quality only allows a photographer to show the images bigger. It does not improve a photograph itself. Even a low-end camera now offers much better image quality than what 35mm used to be like 20 years ago and many such images graced covers of National Geographic. So, make sure you have a camera and let’s get started on how to make amazing photographs!

Actually, the second step to create stunning images starts without the camera! What your images need to do is share your amazement of a place. So what you need to do is look for what amazes you and investigate it well.

Say you just arrived in downtown Lima at the Plaza de Armas. The plaza is enormous, it’s surrounded by imposing historic buildings on 3 sides, there’s a huge fountain in the middle, lights, flowers arranged in patterns and hordes of people passing through.

You feel amazed but you can’t snap a photo as soon as you step onto the plaza and expect a great outcome. An actual photo of the plaza in impossible from within it, you would need to seek a good vantage point for that. Instead, find each element and details that make the place amazing to you.

The cathedral, for example, on the east side of the plaza, is extremely imposing. It also has these spectacularly carved wooden balconies protruding from the stone walls. Get close to it, look at what element fascinates you the most. Once you have mentally noted elements that interest you, it’s time to start composing your image.

Composing means place elements together. Of course, you cannot move the cathedral or the fountain but you can move yourself to show elements together or separate them. This is where the camera lens makes the whole difference and where zooms greatly help. Place yourself where you can see the elements you thought of and bring the camera to your eye. Look and inspect the view. Adjust your position and zoom until what attracted you to make this photo is prominent and there is little to nothing else in the frame. Remember the saying:

“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery