50 Free Photography Resources That Will Improve Your Skills

7 min read
Graphics, Photography, Tutorials, Techniques
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Andrew Gibson is a photographer and writer. He runs Magical Places Fine Art, an online photography magazine and another great photography resource. More about Andrew ↬

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Photography is a wonderful hobby enjoyed by lots of people all over the world. It’s a very enjoyable passtime, but also a very technical one. There’s a bewildering range of cameras, lenses and accessories, and photographers also have to get to grips with computers and image editing software packages. It can get very confusing, especially for newcomers to the hobby, and there always seems to be something to new to learn, even for experienced photographers.

With this in mind we’ve put together a list of over 50 free photography resources that will be useful to anyone involved in. We’ve compiled a list of the best and most comprehensive websites that will help you get the most out of your photography equipment. You’ll find a gold mine of articles on equipment and technique, plus advice from some of the most active and well-known professional photographers practising today.

Beginner’s Zone

These websites are an excellent place to start for beginners. They have content for more advanced users too.

Digital Photography School Very comprehensive photography resource. Lots of inspirational and informative articles.

Photodoto Click on the Photography 101 link for an excellent set of articles for beginners.

About.com: Photography Photography articles and techniques from the team at About.com.

Inspiration

The EOScars [Offline] More and more digital SLRs are coming with a movie recording mode. The highest spec models rival the quality of high end movie recording equipment and have been used to shoot music videos and movie trailers. The EOScars compiles the best movies recorded with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

Photography Now Portfolios from past masters and contemporary greats.

World Press Photo Anyone interested in photojournalism needs to check out this website. You can look at the winning images from the annual World Press Photo Contest and read interviews with professional photojournalists.

National Geographic Photography Beautiful showcases of inspirational photography plus tips and advice from National Geographic photojournalists.

Exposure Compensation Focusing on the work of inspirational photographers from around the world.

Technical Stuff

Cambridge in Colour A series of very technical tutorials about aspects of digital photography such as camera sensors, histograms, colour management and autofocus.

Luminous Landscape Another website with a comprehensive series of technical articles. One of the oldest and most prestigious photography websites around.

Depth of Field Master Depth of field is commonly misunderstood. This website explains depth of field very well. You can also print out depth of field tables for your lenses - a must for landscape and architecture photographers.

Ken Rockwell Straightforward technical advice from a pro photographer.

Canon Professional Network Lots of technical advice for Canon users and inspiration from Canon’s Ambassadors - pro photographers using Canon equipment.

Canon Digital Learning Centre More technical advice and tutorials for Canon users.

Nikon Digitutor Camera specific tutorials for Nikon users.

Pentax User Magazine The website of Pentax User Magazine, brought to you by the publishes of ePhotozine (another great photography resource), lots of useful info for Pentax camera owners.

Photo Notes Technical articles. Some excellent summaries of camera specs - click the Lookup link to see them.

Photography Equipment

It’s stating the obvious but photography is impossible without the basic equipment of a camera or camera body and lens. There are hundreds of pieces of equipment and many brands to choose from. These websites will help you make sense of the choices.

Digital Photography Review Comprehensive reviews on just about every new piece of digital photography equipment released over the last few years. The first stop for anyone interested in purchasing new gear or understanding more about the features of what they already own.

Radiant Lite Lots of equipment reviews.

Photography and Photoshop Technique

Photo Answers The official website of UK photography magazines Practical Photography and Digital Photo. Lots of news and technique to complement the magazines.

Strobist All the information you need to use your camera’s portable flash unit to its full advantage.

Joe NcNally Joe McNally built his reputation as a commercial photographer specialising in the use of Nikon’s portable flashes. He passes on his knowledge in his blog.

Photoshop Daily Photoshop tutorials from the publishers of UK magazine Photoshop Creative.

Apogee Photo Magazine Articles, tips, techniques and portfolios.

Photojojo Technique and creative ideas.

Photography Blogs

Discussion about the topics and techniques that matter most to contemporary photographers.

The Online Photographer Lots of articles about equipment, technique and the concepts behind photography.

Epic Edits Lots of techniques and advice. The recent series about making fine art prints is very useful.

All Day I Dream of Photography Lots of interesting photography articles.

Toy Cameras

Toy cameras have become very popular over the last few years. Learn all about them at these websites:

Holga Blog [Offline] All about holgas.

Light Leaks Print magazine featuring the best toy camera photography from around the web.

Four Corners Dark

Professional Photographers

One of the best ways to learn about photography is to study the work and ideas of professional photographers. Luckily, the trend for pros to blog about their work has created some priceless educational resources. Here are some of the best:

Chase Jarvis Professional commercial photographer Chase Jarvis on the latest developments in the industry.

The Digital Trekker Travel photographer Matt Brandon talks about his work and the ideas behind his photos.

David duChemin Humanitarian photography David duChemin discusses his career and work.

Pixsylated Syl Arena’s photography web magazine. Includes the excellent ‘Lessons I didn’t learn in photo school’ series.

Photo Smudger London based snapper Tom Miles shares his real world experience. Essential reading for any student or photographer aspiring to work in London.

Digital Pro Talk Social photographer David Ziser blogs about making a living in the competetive world of social photography.

Photocrati Articles for photographers, by photographers. A wealth of information and insights from some of the world’s best pro photographers.

Interviews by Crash Taylor Social and wedding photographer Crash Taylor interviews some of the best known names in the business. Essential reading for anyone who wants to break into wedding or social photography.

Other Useful Resources

Photo Compete Once you’ve polished up your photography skills no doubt you’ll be tempted to enter a few photography competitions. Photo Compete has a listing of current photography competitions.

Photo Competitions Even more photography competitions including the big name competitions from companies like Sony and National Geographic.

Pro-Imaging Photo Competitions [Not available anymore] But make sure you read this before entering a photography competition. There are competitions that take away your copyright - this website lists the competitions that don’t.

Photopreneur A ton of ideas for making money from your photos.

Purestorm

In light reports of photographers being harassed by security guards and police, it’s a good idea to know your rights. These websites have the information that you need:

Photographers’ legal rights - UK

Photographers’ legal rights - United States

Photographers’ legal rights - Australia

Last Click

JPG MagThe magazine that publishes your photos and your articles.

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