Exposure is one of the foundations of photography, and understanding it makes it much easier to control how your images look. It’s a free, step-by-step guide to learning photography for beginners and intermediate photographers. There is no certificate, and the tutorial is available in English. It is a reference resource rather than a formal class, making it suitable for self-paced learning.

The tutorial explains how aperture, shutter speed and ISO work together to control exposure, and what each setting changes in the final image. A wider aperture creates a shallower depth of field, a slower shutter speed can introduce motion blur, and a higher ISO can increase image noise. You’ll also learn about the exposure triangle and how manual control gives you more creative options than Auto mode.

It’s an ideal book for the beginning photographer learning the ropes of manual cameras, or for the intermediate photographer who wants to get his/her knack in a few nuts and bolts. Read it using a camera and attempt the examples as you read. This is a lot of detail in a photography tutorial page to explain how the three controls relate to each other, which makes it very easy to go back to when a picture doesn’t turn out the way you want.

Alison’s Introduction to Digital Photography is a 1.5 to 3 hour beginner’s course. It is available in English and Spanish, it is free to study and the certificate is an optional fee.

The course begins by discussing the history of photography and various photographic styles, followed by an introduction to photographic equipment and getting familiar with basic setting up of a DSLR. You’ll also get to know the Rule of Thirds, the various parts of a DSLR, full frame cameras versus crop sensor, image formats, and camera settings and the working of a sensor. It also offers reasons why it is important to have good file management, as well as what you should be bringing to a shoot.

For those who have used the automatic features only, it’s a soft exit. It’s ideal for total beginners, and those who are experienced with smartphone photography can take many ideas from it – it’s the concepts that remain the same, regardless of the device.

Why pick it? Provides structure without taking any technical knowledge as a prerequisite. This will take only a one-hour sitting course and cover everything from theory through camera basics and practical thinking, so it is a great first course for anyone who seriously wants to learn digital photography.

Adobe’s Photography Basics page is an English language, self-paced, free, beginners’ guide to photography. There’s no certificate. It doesn’t require any fancy gear to do this so anybody from the smartphone to the dSLR can follow.

The page covers camera equipment, camera settings and the jargon of camera forums. It then progresses to composition, portraiture, bokeh, blur and their first look at the concepts of photo-editing. It’s a broad tour and not a deep dive into one topic.

Which is why it’s perfect for total novices, enthusiasts, and anybody who enjoys taking pictures with their mobile devices who would like to learn the terminology of the trade before deciding on a direction. It’s a good way to test the waters if you aren’t sure whether you prefer photographing the landscape more than the portrait or close-ups more than landscapes.

I like the fact that it isn’t restricted to a particular camera or a particular genre. It has the added advantage of being directly from Adobe, and also makes a good link for creative photography and digital editing. It’s kind of the gateway to all other items on the list.

It’s a collection of tutorials, following a structured format, that is focused on the terminology and technical concepts used in digital cameras. Is free, self-paced, from beginner to advanced and in English without certificate.

The first part focuses on the fundamentals, covering camera sensors, exposure, metering, depth of field, focal length, aperture, white balance and autofocus. It then switches to image attributes like bit depth, sharpness, noise and dynamic range. Advanced reader can explore further the size of the sensor and diffraction and hyperfocal distance.

For the beginner, this is the place to get in the right direction for technical knowledge building; for the intermediate photographer, it’s an ideal way to enhance understanding of the way a camera captures light. It’s a resource that will make you a better photographer by not memorizing settings, but understanding what they do.

This is the true worth. The lessons teach concepts, not button setups for any specific camera so that the subject matter is easily transferable to other cameras, lenses and shooting scenarios. You’ll find yourself bookmarking it and visiting again and again.

Beginner Digital Photography is an English language free course by Alison, and takes approximately 1.5-3 hours to complete. It’s designed for those who are new to the field and the certificate is voluntary. It’s hands on: manual camera controls, then post production.

You will discover what Mode Dial is, how lenses are constructed and what works well with them and what doesn’t. Afterwards students learn about shutter speed, aperture, ISO and lighting, and then basic editing using Photoshop and Lightroom. The idea is to observe the influence of each control on the final image.

It’s an ideal choice for those who already have a camera and don’t want to be stuck in automatic mode. The lessons on exposure will benefit anyone beginning to shoot with a DSLR or mirrorless camera, and for those who are already into photography, these camera skills can be coupled with some basic photo editing.

What I love about it is that it’s not shooting and editing as entirely different hobbies, but shooting and editing all in the same. This will provide you with a good foundation to work from and some Adobe Lightroom know-how as a bonus.

This is an English-language, 2.5 hours long, free beginner’s photography course from Great Learning Academy. This is different from many of the tutorials in here since a certificate is available.

It includes manual exposure control, composition, reading natural light and selections of lenses. It also covers various photography styles, photo editing, colour grading, image portfolio and organizing images. It’s a larger spread than the regular camera tutorial, as you also get to see what happens to a picture once you have taken it.

For a laid-back beginning, it’s a great choice. Even hobbyists who take lots of photos and don’t really know how to plan exposures, compose or edit photos systematically will find much to be gained from it.

The major selling point is that it considers photography as a full workflow. Technical and creative decisions are taught in tandem and you start to see how they work together. That attitude is priceless more than any one camera trick.

Composition determines where the viewer’s eye goes in a photograph, and Adobe’s free tutorial explains the principles clearly. It is self-paced, in English and designed for beginner to intermediate language learners. No certificate will be involved.

The Rule of Thirds, balance, negative space, leading lines, perspective, depth of field and framing are covered in the lesson. It also provides an illustration of the fact that one can see a photo in a different light and make it look completely different. Adobe includes a note on cropping, enabling you to crop a composition after it’s captured.

This is perfect for those who know the basic workings of a camera but just want to get his/her photos to look a bit more interesting. It is also easy to use for those who are looking for a practice run on a walk on a weekend.

Some strong composition skills are beneficial in almost every type of photography, such as portrait, landscape, product and street. It’s a worthwhile investment of time. Skills such as these are transferable across subjects, and you can get an idea going and test it right after reading about it.

After having mastered the fundamentals, you’re ready to take your skills to the next level: Intermediate Digital Photography. It is a free Alison course in English, will take 1.5-3 hours, and there is an optional certificate available.

The course looks at how changing one setting impacts another; shutter speed, ISO and exposure. It then introduces the concepts of focal length, lens diameter, f-stops, metering modes and photographic filters. On the editing front, you’ll practice selecting colors, straightening distorted photos, trimming out little distractions and working with layers and masks.

It’s designed for those who have either completed basic photography training or are familiar with the basic camera controls. It’s suitable for those who wish to improve their skills in capturing and editing.

The decision to use it is quite straightforward. It is a bridge between basic courses and higher level techniques, as well as camera settings and editing skills. That’s a way of working that will get you to be more deliberate and professional, rather than hoping for the light to cooperate.

This Cambridge in Colour tutorial will give a good understanding of what depth of field is and how it can be used to produce a good photograph. It’s completely free, self-paced, English only and geared toward intermediate photographers. There’s no certificate.

The tutorial demonstrates the effect of depth of field on the camera, through the use of the aperture and the distance of the focus. It also covers the concept of “circle of confusion”, which, though it sounds frightening, is actually quite a technical term, and has a depth of field calculator included to play with.

Photographers who are familiar with the basics of exposure will benefit the most from it, and would prefer to have more control over focus and background blur. It’s a must-have for anyone who’s ever gotten frustrated with having to re-shoot soft objects!

Why bother? Depth of field changes the whole look of a picture. You decide whether the scene stays crisp from front to back or the background melts away. That matters in portrait, macro, landscape and product work. The tutorial mixes practical explanations with technical detail, so both creative types and numbers people will find something useful.

Adobe’s Tips on How to Take Good Photos is an English-language, free, self-paced beginner’s guide. No certificate and more of a friendly checklist than a formal lesson.

It invites you to learn about exposure, familiarize yourself with the gear, try new lighting setups and try out different compositions. The subjects are shutter speed, natural and studio lighting, Rule of thirds, photography styles, artistic vision and presets. The point is that, they learn to get skilled by practicing and experimenting, not by learning by heart the rules.

It will be best suited for the beginner or the hobbyist, especially for those who have some understanding of the concepts and who want inspiration for improving real pictures. It’s also a great reminder when you’re feeling stuck in your rut.

I would say it’s a more practical course than the courses listed above. Instead of zooming in on one camera setting, it pulls equipment, exposure, lighting, composition and creative photography into one place. Leave it open on your phone all while shooting.

This is an introductory course for beginners to the art of shooting the outdoors with Alison. Study is free and in English, and should take about 1.5-3 hours. The certificate is not required.

Emphasis is on the practical. You will learn about the tools used for landscaping, landscaping techniques and filters to be used in various outdoor settings. Once you know these basics, you can make the right choices in the set-up process, before you even press the shutter, which will prevent a lot of frustrations out there.

It’s for people who are new to nature, travel and outdoor photography and want to go further than just taking general shots and take a specific style of photography.

Landscape photography can also be used as an excellent means of practicing composition, exposure and natural light. All of your knowledge is immediately put to the test in real sky and clouds and real scene. This course will give you a starting point that is focused so that you can expect your first sunrise excursion to have a better chance of bringing home a picture you’ll want to keep.

Have you ever seen an image that looks bizarre and orange on-screen, but is normal when you look at it in person? That is WHITE BALANCE and this Cambridge in Colour tutorial is about it. It is free, self-paced, in English and for beginner and intermediate learners. No certificate.

The tutorial includes topics on Color Temperature, Auto White Balance and Custom White Balance. It gives you an understanding on why colors look different under varying light sources and why sometimes the pictures look blue, orange or green. It is most crucial in interior/sunset/ or mixed light situations.

If you’ve ever noticed strange color in your photos, you’ll find out here, and intermediate photographers can learn to get more accurate control. Understanding how to control the white balance will result in more natural color, and also teach you how to alter the color intentionally for creative photography.

Best of all, it has an explanation of why there is a color cast and how to handle that. This will reduce the resulting mystery tints and save on post-adjustment time.

It’s the weirdest entry I’ve got yet, literally. Reading Visual Images is part of the Open University (OU) OpenLearn platform. This is a free introductory level 1 English course which lasts for approximately 8 hours. A Statement of Participation is provided, a digital badge could be awarded.

It is not a camera class, but it is a class on analyzing and interpreting photographs. You will consider pictures as evidence and as social data and you will ask questions about context, representation, identity and photographic truth. You reflect on how a photographer’s decisions affect what a viewer sees as you make your way along.

For the photographer, visual-content producers, students and anyone interested in the meaning of images, it’s helpful. Works well with technical training.

This is why it’s one of the more valuable free online courses here. Great pictures are more than just correct exposure. Once one knows how to read images, one begins to think more deeply about the subject, the context, and the visual storytelling, well before picking up the camera.

In the second landscape course from Alison, Alison will focus on three aspects of creating an outdoor image: creating it on location, composing it and enhancing it later. This is an introductory course, free to learn, in English, and takes about 1.5-3 hours to complete. The certificate is voluntary.

You will learn how to apply skills to make landscape images and how to edit images in Adobe Lightroom. Having that combination is useful because you get to see how the original frame and the completed frame fit together rather than viewing editing as a ‘Salvation’.

It is perfect for novice users who are looking for landscape, travel or nature images. It is suitable for learners with basic camera knowledge for practice in applying principles of exposure and composition to the scene outdoors.

Outside work requires careful attention to light, exposure and framing; they all enhance your overall visual storytelling. One of the great things about this course is that it has all of your image capture and post-processing in one resource, and you can follow a photo from the field to the final edit without changing tabs or tutorials.

Just getting started with Lightroom and a little baffled by the interface? Adobe’s Take Your First Steps in Lightroom is the official introduction to Lightroom. No certificate and it’s free, self-paced, and in English.

It teaches you how to import images into a Lightroom library, and provides practice images for you to follow along with. It also includes a discussion of the interrelationship of Lightroom’s desktop, cell phone and web variations, which confuses many new Lightroom users.

It’s meant for photographers who are new to Adobe Lightroom. Useful if you want to know how to organize your photos before entering into the more advanced editing. Understanding how images are imported and organized is a first step, but often a messy library is the result of not doing it.

What I appreciate is the hands-on style. Instead of only describing features, it lets you practice with real files. As an official starting point from Adobe, it also gives you a reliable foundation before you try other photo editing courses.

Over the years Cambridge in Colour has developed a large library of tutorials, and this is it. It is free, self-paced, in English and requires a beginner to advanced level. There’s no certificate.

This includes tutorials on the concept of a camera, equipment, image editing, composition, lighting and special techniques. You can go from exposure, sensors, metering and depth of field to lenses, white balance, autofocus, HDR, panoramas, macro, night shooting and portrait lighting. No camera or lens is attached with anything.

For the beginner, it is possible to begin with the basics or intermediate tutorials, and for the more advanced photographer, it is possible to pick tutorials on a specific technique. There is no one specific path that you take. You will select what you want according to your skill level.

This makes the collection a reference library for the long term and the concept based approach allows the lessons to be used on a different camera brand and model. If you’re the type who likes to revisit a topic months later, this is the page to bookmark. It’s particularly useful if you’re looking to improve your photography but don’t want to spend money on another course.

This course does not concern itself with operating a camera and instead concentrates on the post-production aspect of the work. An open, online, beginner’s course in English, of about 1.5 – 3 hours duration, and with an optional certificate.

These topics cover photo catalogs, importing pictures, rating pictures, reading the histogram and using local adjustments. It also includes exposure, shadows, highlights, clipping and noise, as well as editing landscape and cityscape photos.

It’s ideal for those who already shoot digital photos and seek a more efficient editing process. It is also accessible to beginners who want to learn Lightroom along with the basics of photography, particularly if they’re taking lots of shots and require a fast method to organize, evaluate and edit a large quantity of photographs.

Anyone who wants to manage and edit their photo collection should know Lightroom early; it is widely used for such work. This course provides a targeted overview of the critical functions without requiring first exposure to the entire application. This is a gentle introduction to Photo Editing if editing photos has seemed like a daunting task.

Short on time? This is an Adobe tutorial and is only about 5 minutes. It’s in English, no certificate, and it’s free.

The lesson demonstrates the process of making an automatic adjustment and then adjusting brightness, contrast and color. It’s also an illustration of how simple adjustments can bring a RAW photo taken with a camera to life. It is quite intriguing to watch an original image being transformed into a more refined one, and that is exactly what happens in a few steps.

It’s a great way for novices to get their heads around the main editing functions found in Lightroom. It’s also a quick reference guide when you begin your editing session, and forget what each slider is for.

Its benefit is that it is short, pragmatic and centred on the adjustments that photographers use on a regular basis. You can complete it on a coffee and right away use the strategies you have on your own photos. Combine it with a longer Adobe Lightroom class, and you have the quick win and the deeper understanding.

If you prefer to play it safe and read theory, you’ll want to look through several of the books in this collection. Photography Techniques is a free, self-paced and English-language course from Cambridge in Colour. Beginner- to high level and no certificate.

It collects real-life tips on creative apps of shutter speed and minimizing camera shake. Also included are macro photography, night photography, natural-light shooting, portrait lighting and composition tips like the Rule of Thirds, diagonal composition and negative space. Also there is HDR and focus stacking.

It’s great for beginners who want hands-on practice and intermediate photographers who are looking for new techniques to experiment with. It takes you from technical camera knowledge to real situations.

Diversity is the key. It doesn’t just push one approach, it offers you many approaches, and that’s a way to find out what you’re looking after in the future. Perhaps you’ll discover that you adore nighttime snapping or perhaps that you like doing window lights portraits. Only time will tell.

Advanced Digital Photography allows learners to go deeper into exposure, technique and professional editing. This is a free, English (and Spanish) course from Alison that takes approximately 1.5 – 3 hours to complete. The certificate is not required.

It covers the topics of mirror lock-up, exposure bracketing, flash photography, perspective, hyperfocal distance and depth of field. You will also be able to interpret histograms and working with more advanced Photoshop techniques such as filters, Smart Objects and Smart Filters.

This course caters towards photographers who are familiar with the basic camera settings and are looking to further explore more advanced settings. Hobbyists wanting to get started on harder projects will find this useful, particularly if they are having trouble getting a kick when it’s harder to light.

These are important topics to learn since they will assist you in dealing with difficult scenarios and editing images. It goes beyond exposure and composition and addresses concepts that are appropriate for particular shooting situations and advanced post-production processes. This is the next step when you have taken the intermediate course and wanted more!

Adobe’s Lightroom Tutorials page is a set of official tutorials on organizing, editing, storing and sharing photographs. It’s for Lightroom and Lightroom Classic. It is free, self-paced, in English, and is beginner to intermediate. There’s no certificate.

There are some basic editing and importing photos and getting started for beginners. The next few classes will include local adjustments, presets and workflows. Adobe also has individual Lightroom and Lightroom Classic learning paths, allowing you to pursue the path that corresponds to your software.

It’s suitable for newbies and for more advanced photographers looking for a certain method or a single tip.

The tutorials are directly from Adobe, and therefore have authority on how the features behave. You also have the option to select lessons by ability, rather than in a predetermined sequence. Bookmark it, and whenever you meet a Lightroom feature you don’t understand, you’ll know where to look. It’s a fine partner to any photo editing course.

If you’re looking for a more extensive learning curve, Alison’s Diploma in Digital Photography is an option. It’s intermediate level, comes in English and Spanish and is about 10 to 15 hours of study. No registration fees for studying and a paid certificate/diploma is available as an option.

This diploma includes topics in camera operation, exposure, lighting, composition and digital image editing. You will learn about the settings of a DSLR camera, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length, f stops, perspective and metering. Also adds Photoshop retouching and exposure bracketing.

It is ideal for serious beginners and intermediate photographers that wish to acquire more than just a quick introduction. It could be particularly helpful for hobbyists who are unsure if they can make a living out of taking photos.

The main advantage is its broader coverage: you study several connected areas of photography in one learning path, from shooting to image enhancement. It provides a solid foundation for further specialization.

Not editing with a plan is just a lot of slider pushing. A more structured approach is available with Cambridge in Colour’s Digital Photo Editing Workflow. Free, self-paced, English, intermediate level photographers. No certificate.

The tutorial teaches important adjustments that are made after shooting including white balance, exposure, color and other corrections. It emphasizes solving the basic issues first and then adding creative elements. For instance, white balance can be enough to alter the appearance of an image to a degree that warrants its adjustment prior to sorting.

It’s for photographers who know the basic functioning of the camera and wish to have a more systematic approach to picture processing.

When editing a large collection of images, a consistent workflow is a great help. You save time on changing things around and focus time on deliberate changes. This tutorial helps you understand that some corrections will need to precede creative finishing – something you will save hours of understanding.

Although the title says Beginners, Alison currently classifies Adobe Lightroom for Beginners as an advanced course and estimates it to contain between 3 and 4 hours of video. Study is free, the course is taught in English, and the certificate is optional.

The emphasis of the course is on photo management and editing in Lightroom Classic. It covers the differences between Lightroom versions, what makes a good image, filters which assist you in managing photos, the navigation tools and selective adjustment tools. It adds HSL and color-grading controls as well.

It is helpful for photographers who are new to Lightroom, or want to become more familiar with Lightroom’s management and editing capabilities, especially if they have some familiarity with photography.

These features added together can help you to go beyond simple adjustments and into an organized editing process. During the course, you will get the chance to learn how to organize photos and apply creative editing to them, and experience how Adobe Lightroom can fit into a repeatable workflow. If you have used Lightroom in the past, and felt helpless, this one will help with a folder of your own photos.

It’s a thoughtful OpenLearn course that we conclude with. Picturing the Family is a free, introductory level 1 English course which takes approximately 12 hours. A free Statement of participation is awarded.

The course explores photos as more than memories and considers what information might be revealed or concealed by them. You will learn about the conventions of the photograph, and how these are determined by the photographer and the situation in which they were created. It also develops key skills in the interpretation of photographic sources.

A fascinating introduction to the interrelationships between photography, memory, documentation and storytelling for students of the art. It is recommended for visual-arts learners and all those who are attracted to family, documentary or historical photographs.

The primary lesson to be learned is that photographs can have historical and cultural significance other than aesthetic significance. As if they were documentary sources – rather than pretty pictures – you will ask better questions about the stories behind them. This habit also trickles down into street photography and general shooting.