With the rise of digital photography and social media, more people are interested in learning photography skills to take creative photos and videos. While high-quality photography courses can be expensive, there are many free online classes available that provide quality education for beginners to advanced photographers. By investing time into free online photography courses, you can gain valuable skills without spending money on expensive in-person classes or equipment. In this article, we will explore some of the best free online photography courses and how they can enhance your abilities.
Nikon’s photography tutorials cover the fundamentals
Nikon has created a series of comprehensive online photography tutorials that provide instruction on core photography concepts for beginners. The lessons cover topics like exposure, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, lighting, composition, and more. The tutorials use text, images, and short videos to clearly explain each concept. They also include quizzes to test your knowledge. Since Nikon is a leading camera brand, their free lessons focus on helping you master the technical elements of photography using any camera. Working through these fundamental tutorials can provide a strong base of knowledge to advance your skills.
CreativeLive has workshops by renowned photographers
CreativeLive offers a selection of free online photography workshops recorded live and taught by famous photographers like Brooke Shaden, Gavin Hoey, and Pye Jirsa. Each class runs around 1 hour and focuses on specific genres like portrait, landscape, or food photography. The instructors share tips and best practices for improving your photographic abilities through lessons and demonstrations. Because the workshops feature such skilled photographers, they provide unique insight into the creative process behind stunning images. The free classes give a sample of CreativeLive’s paid content, which includes multi-day intensives and workshops covering every photography topic imaginable.
Photzy guides you step-by-step through photo projects
Photzy provides free online photography courses focused on learning by completing hands-on projects. Their step-by-step lessons walk you through practical photo assignments like light painting, smoke art, levitation photography, and product photography. They offer all the specifics from what camera settings and equipment to use down to where to position yourself and details for getting the perfect shot. Because the courses revolve around projects rather than just technical concepts, they allow you to boost your skills through practice. Learning through guided projects can build your creative confidence as you see your images come to life.
Udemy’s video lessons cover photography specialties
Udemy has a large selection of photography classes and many are offered for free. Their courses use video lessons to teach skills ranging from understanding your camera settings to mastering Photoshop for photo editing. While fundamentals are covered, there are also free classes focusing on specific types of photography like wildlife, night sky, landscape, portrait, pet, and food photography. The specialty courses share helpful tips and ideas for improving your photos within that genre. Photography can have a steep learning curve, so being able to work through free video tutorials at your own pace allows you to advance your proficiency.
YouTube tutorials are plentiful for visual learners
YouTube is packed with free photography tutorials from expert channels. Popular instructors like Jared Polin, Mark Denney, Mango Street, and Peter McKinnon post weekly video lessons demonstrating techniques and concepts like composing a scene, editing in Lightroom, off-camera flash, astrophotography, and more. The benefit of YouTube photography tutorials is their visual format. Being able to watch the instructor show you step-by-step how to do something can facilitate the learning process. Having access to such a volume of tutorials allows you to get instruction on niche topics. YouTube’s videos make it easy to look up and learn a new skill whenever you need.
Investing time into free online photography courses allows you to significantly improve your skills at your own pace for no cost. The best free classes cover everything from photographic fundamentals to specialized techniques. Through quality instruction from expert photographers along with hands-on learning by completing projects, online courses can elevate your creative abilities and confidence. The convenience of learning via tutorials and videos makes building your photography proficiency engaging and enjoyable.