6 Low-Cost Ways to Learn Photography
Photography can be a very expensive hobby - the gear alone can run pretty steep, and once you add on things like editing software and so on, there sometimes isn't a lot left over to use on learning how to use the darn things! However, at all ages and stages of your photography journey, you will want to keep learning. The good news is, there are lots of ways to learn photography that don't cost the earth, or even better, are free!
Here are six low cost ways to learn photography:
1) BLOGS / $0
My oh my but there are a lot of blogs to choose from! Three well-known (and long established) blogs are Digital Photography School, and Clickin Moms.
You will pick up so much information from blogs, and I suggest you subscribe to a few to get new tricks or ideas. However, blogs tend to address several subjects are are geared to photographers of varying abilities, which means they don't follow a guided learning path.
This is one reason it can be best to use blogs alongside other forms of learning, so although you could learn photography by piecing together different blog posts, it will definitely take longer to try to do it this way!
2) LIBRARY BOOKS / $0
As I prefer to be able to hold onto a book after I've read it, I tend to purchase my photography books instead of taking them out of the library, but if you want to keep it as low cost as possible, you can borrow a great many fantastic titles from libraries.
You can take a look at his post on photography books for some ideas of titles to look for. The good news, if they are no good, you can just put it back and take out a different one!
3) PHOTOGRAPHY GROUPS / $0 - $60
You can usually find local ones in your area, just go a searching for camera clubs and photography groups - these are usually free, or have a small charge just to cover costs. You can find free ones online too - Flickr has loads of groups dedicated to different things, you can join one of those and start posting!
If you want to join a larger group, where you can also find tutorials for learning, there are several "for women" forums around. Clickin Moms is a big one - and the one I am with - but others include The Bloom Forum and The Photographer Within - all have little sub forums you can join in with, or general forums where you get to know people, as well as areas with tutorials and other learning resources.
4) PRINT BOOKS / $2 - $50
Don't even get me started on the number of photography books I have! However, if I can, I like to pick these up from Amazon as second hand items, and I've bought several books this way. Of course, you aren't going to get the latest books second hand, but for many I'm happy to get them when they are a few years old. Here's a couple that you can get right now second hand on Amazon that are less than half price:
5) E-LEARNING $10 - $250
There are three main types of e-learning: ebooks, workshops and courses. A Workshop is the most expensive, and this usually means that you can submit images for feedback, but you are on strict timetable - the course lasts for around four weeks and that's the only time you will get feedback or help if you get stuck, They are good , if a little pricey, but less flexible.
Online courses are much more flexible - you learn at a time to suit you. Check out Auto to Awesome which is a step by step guide to learning everything you need to know to take amazing photos! It's 100% online and self paced, so may be just the very thing for you :)
Make sure you choose one that has a really solid step by step learning path so that you get the most out of it.
6) CREATIVE LIVE / $0
Creative Live is a site with loads of photography courses that you can pay for, but they also stream videos of their new photography courses for free, provided you watch it live. Find out which courses are coming up live (and therefore free) here - I think you need to sign up to watch, but there are no charges involved.