It doesn't need to be fancy, but it does need to portray your subject in a way that can be seen by others. Light and optics are critical. Photo was actually the Greek word for light. Optics, Greek for appearance.
You need both, to effectively portray your subject.
Light can be achieved in many ways, sunlight or flash, or occasionally with the help of an exceptional camera, but you must have light to make a viewable photo.
For your "optics", look for a camera with an "optical zoom" lense, which can be acquired very economically these days. This alone is your primary source for clear, concise, photos.
What's next?
Learn how to use it.
This is not as simple as it once was, when we loaded film, ...rolled till it locked, ....pointed, ...and clicked. But then again, ....maybe it is simpler. Now, you just "point and shoot", but still should use some thought as to what you're pointing,... and shooting, at, and, how you want it to look. It can be crooked, and, upside down, but what will that portray? Maybe more about the shooter than the subject? Too often, that is sadly the case.
If you're going after the artistic approach, for submital to Nat'l Geo, by all means, put the happy little clouds and the happy little trees in front of the happy little mountains.
If, however, you are looking to submit this photo for someone to use in evaluating a particular item, get the clouds out the picture, go straight for the shot, the clear, the precise, the right between the eyes shot.
Which brings us to the viewfinder.
Most digital cameras have an LCD screen, or an option to use the EVF(electronic viewfinder). For distance I mostly prefer using the EVF, although for up close shots, the LCD screen works well for getting the subject of the shot rightly framed.
Framed! Whichever viewfinder you choose for any given shot, consider what the result will (hopefully) be, and click accordingly. If it's a square board, square up with it. If you'll use flash, shoot it from an angle, so as not to get the flash back in your eyes(or in the picture), and get your best shot. Shoot it straight on, and right side up.
If you have to take several shots(which most photographers readily do), do it! If you have to go back and take several more, to get a clear shot, do it! Don't waste thousands of peoples time trying to see what you posted in haste, because you were "too busy" to be bothered with offering your audience a shot worth looking at.
Just my
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