How to Level Up Your Photography Hobby

Hobbyist photographers have their tells. If you pack your digital camera with you everywhere you go, you’re probably a hobby photographer. If you insist on using a tripod to get better pictures, you’re probably invested in your photography. If you know just enough about shutter speeds and composition to see that a shot isn’t quite what you wanted, you’re probably a photography enthusiast.

Here’s the thing. A quality camera and tripod can only get you so far. If you want to elevate your photography skills, you’ll need to find ways to level up your equipment, techniques and results (both physical and digital) from time to time.

In this article, you’ll find some interesting equipment and digital resources for hobbyist photographers who are interested in taking their burgeoning artistic endeavors to the next level.

1. Upgrade Your Lens

Hobbyists often stick with basic zoom features. These work for beginners, but they can limit your creative depth of field. The solution? A prime lens.

A prime lens is a camera lens with a fixed focal length. That means, instead of a zoom, you have to move your feet to frame the shot. This delivers sharper images that have the crisp feel of a professional photo. They can also help with low-light performance that is lacking with many zoom lens options.

You can use a simple 50mm prime lens to begin experimenting. Along with low light, this also gives you the opportunity to learn more about bokeh. That is Japanese for “blur” and refers to the quality of the part of the photo that is out of focus.

2. Look for Some Good Filters

No, these aren’t like Instagram filters. These are physical filters you can attach to your camera. There is no end to the number of ways you can do this. So where do you start?

Often, a good polarizing or neutral density (ND) filter is a great “next step” filter set for those looking to move up with their photography hobby. A polarizer is an effective way to cut glare and bring out color richness in a shot. An ND filter can give you a silky water effect that adds a pro-level polish to something like a landscape photo.

These kinds of filters are important because they allow you to capture high-quality images up front. In other words, you don’t have to doctor your images as much in edit to get them to look like what you want. Less post-shot editing leads to more professional-looking photos.

3. Make A Plan For Your Digital Photos

Along with improving your hardware, it’s important to think about how you’re storing your photos. If everything stays on a hard drive or in the cloud, it might be time to think bigger.

Yes, if you take a lot of pictures, you’ll need digital spaces to house the bulk of them. After all, there were roughly two trillion photos taken in 2025 alone. That would be a lot of prints if you were talking about traditional cameras.

But that doesn’t mean everything should stay in pixel form. On the contrary, digital isn’t proving to be quite the upgrade from physical photos that it was originally thought to be. Digital photo overload is making it harder to capture meaningful moments and memories.

If you want your fledgling photography legacy to endure, start strategizing about how to organize your photos. Make folders with the best pictures you take. From there, you can create a digital portfolio and then start printing your top selections in small batches as physical photos.

4. Don’t Skimp On Physical Prints

Finally, don’t stop with basic photo prints. These are useful as a practical measure to move your best images off your digital drives. But you want to think bigger with your best shots.

Look for ways to showcase your top photos for all the world to see. Sites like Mpix can help you go beyond basic prints to get archival-quality photo prints on canvas, metal, and wood. You can build collages, frame your best candidates, and print from wallet to poster sizes.

When you’re ordering prints, be sure to think through how you’re going to display them. For example, you might want to order nine prints that are all the same size to achieve a uniform gallery look. Or, you may want to put your display together like a puzzle using photos of varying sizes. If you want your best or favorite photo to draw focus, try choosing one oversized gallery wrap. No matter which display design you choose, decide before ordering your prints to be sure to achieve the look you’re after.

Leveling Up Your Photographic Pursuits This Year

Photography has never been more exciting to pursue as a hobby. As equipment improves and physical media re-emerges as an ideal option, there are plenty of ways to steer harder into your photo passions in the year ahead. So, look at the list, find the ones that work for you, and then start taking your photography hobby to the next level.

BDG Media newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.