So many beginners ask, with numerous variations, one basic question: Why aren't my pictures as good?

First of all, don't focus so much on what others are doing as what you can do to make your own pictures better.

Secondly, the answer is as simple as the question: You're not doing the same things pros are doing, and you know it.

Following are 10 things you may be doing or thinking that are holding you back from making better photography.

1. Professionals: Do what professionals do: Learn, use advice and copy techniques. You: Think what pros practice doesn't apply to the casual shooter. Plan to magically discover everything on your own or just stay a hobbyist.
2. Professionals: Understand what you put in is what you get out. You: "You mean I actually have to learn the fundamentals, practice them, visualize a shot, get up before the sun rises, scout for locations, lug my tripod and lenses, understand exposure, composition, color, negative space, directional light, texture, impact, story, lines, psychology and post process to get the same result as a professional? That's just too hard and I don't have the time."
3. Professionals: Vision drives the photographer. Photographer manipulates gear to serve vision. You: Your camera's pictures don't look as good so you need a new one.
4. Professionals: Get it right in camera to enhance later. You: Need to learn more Photoshop tricks.
5. Professionals: Understand how to expose exactly for the quantity of light. You: Exposure is just maddening guesswork.
6. Professionals: Leverage more out of their gear by increasing skill. You: Leverage more out of your credit cards to pay for more gear.
7. Professionals: Explorers and students of light. You: Student of diffraction charts, forum debates and academics.
8. Professionals: Light is the main character. You: See light and have heard professionals talk about it, and maybe know what ISO, shutter speed and aperture are, but you're still not seeing light as a separate character that needs to be understood, directed and manipulated.
9. Professionals: Rely on skill sets. You: Rely on equipment sets, software action packs, luck and guessing.
10. Professionals: Business owners who specialize in photography. You: Photographer who wants to make money with photography.

Some things to think about before you buy your next piece of equipment:

• Have you achieved the highest quality images your equipment is capable of producing? If not, consider whether there are any benefits to spending more on gear vs. education. There will always be technology available, ready to serve your vision when you have the skills necessary to get the most out of it, so there's no rush to buy something now.
• Any DSLR is more advanced than anything Ansel Adams used, yet how many hobbyists are creating images greater than Adams'? Is equipment the answer to your problem, or is it you? There's such a strong desire to grab the latest, coolest stuff without ever having mastered the fundamentals that would enable better photos with any camera.
• Equipment is irrelevant in pursuit of mastering the fundamentals. It's only after you've mastered them that equipment can play a role in giving your images an additional edge. If you've mastered the fundamentals, you can make a great image with any camera. If you haven't, no camera will help. Cameras are simply light recording devices. Even the most advanced camera is capable of nothing more than what your skills enable it to do. The deciding factor is skill, not equipment.