Just take it bit by bit and know what to pay attention to. We will help when and where we can.

As far as equipment goes it really just depends on what you want to do. For me I have taken exactly one video using my camera and that was just to test it out. I do stills only.

I mentioned that because why invest in all the extra stuff that in reality is designed to be good for say, a YouTuber, when you really just want to take pictures? That said 'ratings' especially online should be qualified. For example a 'camera' that is rated 6/10 could get 9.9/10 for stills but will suck at video, so almost all of the detractors are looking at it from the perspective of making videos.

There is a lot of red meat and a lot to go over but again, step by step and don't get lost in the 'tech'. Sometimes you need to know how tech works (basically) but you don't need a PhD in it to take photos. However where it does matter is say something like dynamic range. That means the difference between the lightest part and the darkest part of a picture (much more complicated than that but just for now think about it that way).

With film you always take pictures exposing for the highlights. Meaning, if you want your exposure to be better, make sure you don't over expose the sky. With digital it's opposite, hence you will expose for the shadows while keeping in mind that you can only have so much contrast between the shadows and the brightest areas.

That basically means when examining a potential photo take into account those contrasts before clicking the button.

Another thing to know is that in general if you see something with your naked eye and there is contrast involved, your eyes are amazing about detecting that stuff. With the camera sensor though, shadows will be -2 shades darker than what you perceived and lights will be +2 shades lighter than what you perceived.

Just as a training method, get whatever camera you have whether it be the phone or your existing camera and just walk around your house or yard capturing the light and those different contrasts.

Keep in mind that many phones now will automatically digitally alter the image before it's actually recorded. It can trick you into thinking they have better dynamic range. That said it still will help trying to just understand how contrast works in whatever camera you use.