For photography, gear is not the #1 thing, but:
Subject -> story telling
Perspective
Light
Composition
Techinique
and so on...
Also, post-processing is a BIG thing now a days too. I use Adobe Lightroom (Lr) as I always take pictures in RAW.
DinRaat seems interested in Macro Photography, so do I! Here is one of my most recent macro:
Camera: Sony a77 -APS-C camera
Lens: Sony Macro 50mm 2.8
ISO:100
Aperture: F4, 1/1000 Seconds
Please click on the photo to see the image in large