TOP 5 WEBSITES TO LEARN PHOTOGRAPHY FOR BEGINNERS

 

A learning curve is essential to growth. Invest in yourself and improve your skills, you won't regret it! 


Finding the right resources can be quite challenging and it’s hard to know which are the best. I have compiled together this list of best sites to learn photography suitable for beginners and intermediate learners. This post contains some affiliate links. I’ll receive a small commission without affecting at all the price you pay for the items. 


1) CreativeLive

CreativeLive empowers you to unleash your potential by bringing the world’s greatest experts directly to you, live. This site offers many specialized online workshops in photography, design, business, or software training, as well as a few general beginner's courses. 

I like CreativeLive because many classes featured professionals like John Greengo. The materials are digestible and easy to get through and production values are top-notch and in high-definition.

You can take several free CreativeLive classes to gauge how it works. Many of the photography classes are free, for example. 

creativelive_screen.jpg

What are the best CreativeLive classes?

Fundamentals of Photography 2019

Taught by an award-winning photographer, John Greengo, this course is a very well prepared one. It covers everything from basic camera settings, composition, or digital post-processing. The main focus of this program is on great visuals and experiential learning.

I really honestly can say that this is one of the most impressive courses for beginner photographers.

Portrait Photography Bootcamp

If you're looking for a more practically focused course for portraiture, select this one by Lindsay Adler. It covers all the basics of shooting portraits, lighting, and lens selections or advanced posing techniques. 

Adobe Photoshop CC Bootcamp
This course will get you started with Photoshop quickly and easily. Learn essential Adobe Photoshop CC skills like masking, selections, retouching, layers and compositing.

You can Sign up Here for free.

2) Udemy

Udemy is the market leader in online education. More than 24 million students from all over the world have used its services, with over 35,000 instructors offering their courses. Online courses are based on videos mostly in English (but courses in other languages are also available). You can choose from a wide range of topics from business and marketing to IT, programming and web design to lifestyle, photography or fitness.

What are the best Udemy classes?

Photography Masterclass 1.0: A Complete Guide to Photography

udemy_screen.jpg

The course by Phil Ebiner and Sam Shimizu-Jones provides an amazing opportunity to become a skilled photographer. The lectures cover a variety of techniques for taking super photos. This certification is aimed at photographers from every experience level. 

You can Sign up Here for free.

3) Lynda.com

An online educational site with a vast array of multimedia learning experiences and serves more than 10,000 businesses and provides lessons in five languages. Lynda.com is one of the oldest educational platforms. The company was founded in 1995 and focused only on the production of video tutorials.

What are the best Lynda classes?

The Practicing Photographer

lynda_screen.jpg

A quick and easy 30 minutes session designed to give you a feel for what it's like being a working photographer. This course quickly dives into different styles of cameras, lighting techniques, and post-processing programs. 

You can Sign up Here for free.

4) Skillshare

SkillShare is an online course marketplace and is based on the idea that anyone can be a teacher or a student. Sometimes one course may not be enough to help you master a subject as vast as photography. There are practically more than a 100 classes, of which you can choose the ones that suit you the most. Classes include projects which you can share and compare with others in the Skillshare community. The site provides a one-month free trial to try it out.

What are the best Skillshare classes?

DSLR Photography II: Understanding Lenses, Focal Length & Shooting

skillashare_screen.jpeg

Unlock professional-level of photography in just 60 minutes.

The DSLR photography course consists of 11 chapters of videos that cover lens anatomy, focal length, deep dive to portrait, object, street, and landscape photography, editing tips & tricks, final thoughts, and bonus tips.

You can Sign up Here for free.


5) Coursera

Coursera is leading online educational platforms that offer courses on various digital, business and other popular topics. The photography specialization is available from Michigan State University. It offers online public courses called Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and Open Educational Resources (OERs) about almost every subject, from poetry to physics. 

Photography Basics and Beyond: From Smartphone to DSLR Specialization

screen_cursera.jpeg

This specialization in photography created by Michigan State University aims to cover a wide array of topics. There are 5 courses in this specialization:

  1. Cameras, Exposure, and Photography

  2. Camera Control

  3. Principles of Photo Composition and Digital Image Post-Production

  4. Photography Techniques: Light, Content, and Sharing


You can Sign up Here for free.