I teach beginner’s photography workshops in Victoria, BC and I wanted to make a list of resources for my students and other photography enthusiasts at various levels. I’ll add to this list as I discover new resources. Let me know your favourites in the comments.
Books
Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera was a great book when I was first learning photography. It’s very easy to understand and breaks down the elements of exposure clearly and in detail. I’m sure Bryan Peterson’s other books are great as well.
Picture Perfect Practice is an excellent book for learning composition techniques and getting into the habit of breaking them down and practicing them. It also has some sections on posing, though I hear his book Picture Perfect Posing is even better for that. I’ve only read part of it so far, but have heard great things about it from other pro photographers. This book is great for both beginners, seasoned pros, and anyone in between.
On-Camera Flash and Off-Camera Flash by Neil Van Niekerk for flash techniques. He also has a useful blog.
Videos
CreativeLive has free photography, and other (design, business, crafting), workshops that are useful for all levels of photographers. You can buy the courses after they air to have on demand access. They can contain a bit too much fluff for experienced photographers, due to audience questions, but are really great for newer photographers. Fave teachers: Susan Stripling for weddings (Creative Wedding Photography or 30 Days of Wedding Photography), Kirsten Lewis for documentary family photography, Roberto Valenzuela for posing and portraits, Sue Bryce for posing and business, Tamara Lackey for family/children’s portraits and business, Zack Arias for flash.
I haven’t tried it, but a lot of people recommend Lynda.com for tutorials on photo editing. Many libraries include free access to this site. You can also find a lot of great photography and editing tutorials on YouTube. Here’s a list of some great YouTube photography tutorial channels.
Blogs
Photography Concentrate has a ton of great articles for photographers of various levels, but is especially helpful to newer photographers. They have some excellent ebooks for purchase, but the blog is a source of a lot of helpful and free information.
Digital Photography School has a ton of useful articles on various types of photography. There’s so much information here, I suggest using the search function.
You can also follow my blog for photography tips. I’ll be posting more in the coming months. Let me know if there are any topics you’d like me to cover.
Note: some of the links above are affiliate links, but I have personally used all of the above resources unless otherwise noted.