8 Best Free Online Photography Classes & Courses

We’ve researched the 8 best free online photography classes in 2023 to help you improve your skills as a photographer.

It’s never been easier to learn new photography skills than right now!

Whether you want to master the exposure triangle or learn some new creative lighting techniques, there’s an online class for every skill level.

While there’s still some merit to learning photography at a school, free online photography courses allow you to pick up new skills wherever you live, even if you’re on a tight budget.

(There are also the clear benefits of learning online photography classes during Covid-19 lockdown.)

So if you’ve ever asked yourself: “how can I learn photography for free?”, here are the answers!

Let’s dive into the top recommendations.

8 Best Free Online Photography Courses in 2023

1. Photo All Star

Formerly a premium online photography course valued at $289, Shotkit’s very own Photo All Star has been given away for free since the start of Covid-19.

Featuring Peter Eastway (Australia’s only certified Master of Photography), Photo All Star consists of 36 high-quality videos that you can download and watch offline on your computer, tablet or smartphone.

There are over 5 hours of online photography classes, with chapters covering:

• Introduction to the Exposure Triangle
• Setting up your Camera for Success
• Mastering Shutter Speed
• Mastering Aperture
• Mastering ISO
• Mastering Manual Mode
• Mastering Exposure Compensation

Photo All Star is your one-stop-shop for everything to do with mastering your camera settings and putting them into practice in real-world situations.

Peter Eastway is a world-class photographer and educator, and his teaching style is personable, fun and easy to understand, no matter your photography skill level.

Photo All Star won’t be available for free forever, so we recommend you download it straight away!

As far as online photography classes go, it’s one of the best around, and the fact that it’s currently free makes it a real no-brainer.

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2. Photzy

Photzy is a household name when it comes to free online photography courses. Founded in 2012, Photzy now has over 200,000 enrolled students from all over the globe.

Photzy offers over 250 free downloadable tutorials covering the fundamentals of creative photography. The free courses for photographers take the form of instructional e-books that are easy to access online and include:

• Five Steps To Better Headshots
• How To Get The Most Out Of A Photo Walk
• Travel Photography In Your Own Backyard
• Lightroom: Using White Balance & Colour Balance

While Photzy offers additional paid content – the big focus is on the free stuff. With the paid content, you get access to their premium tutorials, including their renowned Snap Cards.

These colour-coded cards are handy cheat sheets that cover different topics related to taking photographs, composition techniques and camera use.

Photographers of all skill levels can benefit from this collection of resources. Even a professional photographer can learn a thing or two from here.

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3. Udemy 

Udemy is a giant among online learning platforms as it’s one of the world’s largest skill-based platforms. With over 130,000 courses on offer, they cover everything from Web Development to Photography at all skill levels.

The Udemy Introductory Photography course is a free online video tutorial that expands with additional paid content.

The Udemy video tutorials include over two and a half hours of content broken into ten lectures. It delivers training on:

• Basic Photography
• Composition
• Exposure
• Aperture & Depth Of Field
• Lighting
• Lenses
• Practical Photography

To expand upon the free Introductory Photography course, it offers paid courses that include Q&A and direct messaging with an instructor – plus s a certificate of completion.

But the potential to learn with Udemy doesn’t stop there. They offer paid photography courses such as Photography Masterclass: A Complete Guide To Photography and specific camera brand courses such as Beginner Canon DSLR Photography.

A specific course like this teaches you everything you need to master your digital camera and take stunning images.

4. Alison 

Much like Udemy, Alison hosts a vast catalogue of online course content ranging from IT and Business to Personal Development and Health.

Under the banner of Personal Development, Alison has an extensive range of free online Certificate and Diploma courses in photography.

What’s more, you can streamline your education level by searching for a particular element of taking creative images.

If you want to learn about street photography techniques, post-production tools, landscape photography, or just how to get started with your digital camera, they have you covered.

For example, if you need support using Adobe Lightroom for post-processing, search for a course that includes that term.

Here are the certificate courses available from Alison:

• Beginner Digital Photography Certificate
• Advanced Digital Photography Certificate
• Diploma In Digital Photography

The Alison online courses include tutorials on all aspects of digital imagery, from mastering post-production tools like Photoshop to learning how to take stunning photographs with a DSLR, drone or mobile phone.

5. Photocritic Photo School 

The Photocritic Photo School provides online education on using a digital camera and taking great photos. With a targeted approach, they offer free online tutorials that cover a broad range of skill-based lessons.

The difference with Photocritic is that students don’t visit their online platform to search for content; they regularly receive it via email.

What’s more, the course spans a whole year to ensure that students have the time need to learn and apply new creative skills – regardless of their starting point.

There are 21 online lessons with 21 corresponding assignments to complete, submit and receive feedback.

The free program at Photocritic Photo School includes education in basics such as:

• Exposure
• Composition
• Focal Length
• Camera Settings

Plus, they go deeper into specific genres such as Macro Photography, Portraits, Landscape and much more. There’s no opportunity to get lazy and forget to look up the next step in your education – it’s sent to you every ten days.

If you need help understanding how to get out of auto-mode and using your camera’s exposure settings, Photocritic has everything you need.

6. Intro to Photography Class (Reddit Photoclass)

The Introduction To Photography Class is better known as the Reddit Photoclass. It provides an easy to navigate online platform offering a comprehensive catalogue of free tutorials.

It’s the work of a single highly acclaimed photographer. He has developed this course of 30 free classes based on the feedback and encouragement of Reddit users.

By harnessing the power of Reddit, the course also provides live online classes where students can chat and provide feedback on one another’s work.

There’s no timeframe or schedule, and you can take as long as you need to explore each category and work on the assignments.

Here’s a taste of the 30 classes on offer via the Intro to Photography Class:

• On Photography (It’s Not Rocket Science)
• What’s a Camera
• Metering Modes
• Manual Focus
• Digital Workflow
• Composition Basics
• How To Go Further

The Reddit Photoclass is highly recognised and applauded on the social media platform. Everything you need is delivered in an easy to follow format fit for any level of photographer.

If you need to know how to master wildlife photography, post-processing, or using different camera lenses, Photoclass fits the bill.

7. Karl Taylor

The Karl Taylor online education platform is a student-photographer dream come true.

The site offers a broad range of education tutorials in all genres that provide visual creatives with a pathway to steer their career.

Karl Taylor provides online classes, live workshops, online feedback and support, plus access to a global network of photographers.

The free photography course on offer includes ten videos covering all the essentials, including:

• How Cameras Work
• Understanding Exposure
• Aperture & Depth of Field
• The Important of Understanding Light
• Photography Composition

In addition to the video tutorials, the free digital photography course includes a 90-page illustrated e-book on photography fundamentals.

Finally, as a feedback and progress check for beginner photographers, Karl Taylor provides an online questionnaire to cement the learning experience.

8. Professional Family Portraits 

The Professional Family Portraits course is available for free on the Craftsy platform. Craftsy aims to provide innovative education on all things creative – from drawing and painting to quilting and sewing.

The free Profesional Family Portraits course is just one of many photography courses available on the platform.

It’s broken down into four parts to ensure that a sensible flow of information matches the creative process involved in taking family portraits. Here are the four video components:

• Introduction & In-Home Photoshoot
• Ambient Light – Garage Style
• Locations for Group Photos
• Processing Basics in Lightroom & Photoshop

The Professional Family Portraits’ total run-time is just over an hour and a half and presents in a straightforward and easy to understand way.

There’s a free PDF download with a list of the necessary equipment and materials for successful family portraits as a bonus extra.

• Are online photography courses worth it?

Multiple online photography courses are available today, and they’ve become quite popular. That said, whether a course is worth it depends solely on how serious the person taking it is.

If you have a passion for photography and are eager to learn new skills, an online photography course is a great option for you.

Final Words

Here at Shotkit, we love free stuff related to the world of photography – who doesn’t? After all, it can be an expensive hobby if you don’t know what you’re looking for.

While it’s true that there’s a wealth of free content available online, a lot of it is click-bait garbage! While they offer ‘free’ content with everything you need to know, there’s usually a meaty hook attached.

The eight best free online photography courses that we’ve compiled here are garbage free. Of course, we believe the best of the lot is Shotkit’s very own Photo All Star.

Regardless of being a professional photographer or someone new to taking photos and wanting to work at a slow pace – there’s a course suited to your level.

One of the best things about free online platforms is that you can access them anywhere to learn about cameras and taking stunning images.

What are your thoughts on our list of free online photography courses? Have you used one of these or one that’s not on our list? Or, are you on the lookout for a free learning solution to get starting with your camera?

Let us know by leaving a comment below or asking us questions if you need additional information.

Happy shooting.