We live in a day and age where learning a new skill is just a click of a mouse away. Whether you want to learn something as detailed as machine learning and web development or something as artistic as photography, there are online courses all over the internet to cater to your different whims and fancies.
We’ve rounded up some of the best free online photography courses to help you learn the art. No matter what your skill level, we’ve got you covered!
FOR BEGINNERS
1. Basics of Photography: The Complete Guide By Lifehacker
This free online photography course is a comprehensive text-tutorial.
It covers three major sections –
- How a digital camera works
- Its automatic settings
- Its more advanced manual settings
The last two sections provide useful information about composition techniques as well as how you can edit your photos in the post-processing phase.
What’s more? This course also offers additional resources if you want to learn each topic in depth. It also has a couple of videos. These videos will help you gain a better understanding of cameras and imaging.
2. Introduction to Photography and Related Media By Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This free online photography course features video lectures from a semester-long undergraduate-level course.
You’ll have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals and technical aspects of working Analog and DSLR cameras in this course by following the instructions of four instructors.
Aside from digital imaging and studio lighting, this course also covers lesson on film imaging – particularly film exposure, film development, and darkroom techniques.
FOR INTERMEDIATE LEVEL PHOTOGRAPHERS
3. Commercial Photography: Still and Moving Image By Future Learn
Sign up for this course if you want to develop your skills and knowledge in new media.
By helping you explore still and moving image photography, this course ensures that you get to tackle topics on film making as well as the use of CGI, animation, and more. You will also learn to create personal and individualized work for clients in advertising, fashion, or editorial photography.
Best of all, you will have the chance to learn from leading commercial photographers like Andy Earl and Tim Flach.
4. Documentary Photography and Photojournalism: Still Images of a World in Motion By MIT Open Courseware
With an aim to hone your photographic “eye” and skills, this free online MIT course is perfect for aspiring photojournalists.
The makers of this course do this by exposing you to the work of some of the most successful photographers in the field. By the end of this course, you will have gained expert knowledge in capturing the essence of a scene. You will also know how to convey meaningful messages despite the obvious limitations of a still photo.
This course is designed keeping in mind those who have a passion for extraordinary images that tell a story!
FOR ADVANCED LEVEL PHOTOGRAPHERS
5. Advanced Digital Photography By Alison
This free online course touches upon advanced concepts in photography such as flash photography, bracketing, hyperfocal distance, perspective, and focal length. The concepts are clearly explained in a step-by-step manner with the use of diagrams and visual aids.
What’s more? This course also aims at improving your post-production skills. They do this by taking you through the different tools and processes in Photoshop such as the clone stamp, Photoshop filters, and Photoshop file formats.
To put it simply, if you want to go beyond the automatic setting on your camera, this course is for you.
There aren’t many free advanced level courses in photography. So if you want to go beyond the intermediate level, you will have to either opt for the above-mentioned free online photography courses or pay up.
Found this article interesting? Then find out how to get an internship in photography.
