Summary of the basics

This is a photo of the Grand Canyon right after a snowstorm back in 2011.  Taken from the airplane window (obviously) using a mobile phone.  It's not relevant to our discussions at this point; I just ran across it and thought I would throw it in.  Because I like it.

I wanted to take a quick break to just summarize the important things in the previous posts before we start looking more at photo composition.  So, here is my summary:

Camera - Don't go crazy buying expensive gear until you learn how to use it.  And even then, you don't need to go crazy unless you plan to make a lot of money.  Actually, you may not need to do it then either.  I was discussing gear with a really good, professional wedding photographer, comparing his Nikon D5 to my D800, etc., and eventually we both sort of rolled our eyes at each other because we were nerding out.  He looked at me and said, "You know, the people who buy the photos can't tell the difference. They can't see what we see."  He is right.  Do your best and have fun.

If you can, do the following:

• get a camera body that allows you to change lenses
• also allows you to use manual settings for ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed
• shoots in raw format if possible, but that's not completely necessary 

A kit zoom lens is generally ok for most things and you probably have it anyway.  Later you can do something better if you like, but the kit zoom is sufficient.

Post Processing Program - All you really need here is a basic program.  Photoshop Elements costs $99 and will do everything you need.  Lightroom is used by a lot of professionals, and it's pretty handy, but it's also more expensive.  You can get a subscription to Photoshop and Lightroom together for $10 per month.  Learning curve on Photoshop is pretty steep but Lightroom is easier.  You will use this program to:

• Crop photos
• Straighten photos
• Adjust color balance
• Adjust exposure levels (or brightness)
• Adjust color saturation 

Of course, the programs I mentioned above will do a lot more than the basics, but we'll slide into the more advanced areas later.

That's it.  You can spend more money, but there's really no need to.  Unless you are planning to shoot high-quality landscapes or do fashion photography, this is really all you need.