Early in my career, my VFX supervisor during a freelance gig told me that the best thing I could do to improve my lighting and shading skills was to invest in a good digital camera and start shooting. It was great advice; so much of VFX work involves trying to mimic what a good director of photography would do on set, and to replicate how an actual camera behaves in the real world.
This is just a quick survey of my amateur photography over the years.