34 Essential Tutorials To Get Started With Digital Photography

Starting out with digital photography can be quite overwhelming if you have no idea where to start. Luckily, there’s plenty of free quality information available on the web… with the potential of making you a semi-professional photographer in a matter of weeks. We’ve compiled the best photography tips and tutorials found on the web for you. Starting with basics to make your first purchase, all the way to the inner workings of your camera.

Choosing a Digital Camera

The world of photography will change when most content originates in computer-readable form. That means the world will change when the average person converts from a film-based camera to a digital camera.

How to Choose the Right Digital Camera

In this tutorial section we’ll try to guide you toward a sensible camera choice that’s right for you. This section is not meant for professional photographers. It’s aimed at beginners and advanced photographers; those either just starting out or those needing to upgrade their equipment.

Tripods

Tripods have been around virtually as long as cameras themselves, but the ease with which today’s cameras may be used tends to make the user overlook the advantages of some accessories. Of all the causes of photo “failures”, fuzziness due to camera shake must be high on the list.

Using Tripods

More of a ‘why you need a tripod’ than a buyers guide, but it does include some tips on buying and using a tripod.

What Is… Aperture?

When you look at the technical specifications of a digital camera, one of the very first specification mentioned is its maximum aperture and/or its aperture range. What is ‘aperture,’ what is a good aperture range, and how is aperture relevant when it comes to choosing a digital camera?

What Is… Correct Exposure?

Before you blame the camera for your lousy pictures, it pays to understand a bit what goes on behind the scenes when you press the shutter release button. In this article, we are going to look at what “correct exposure” means.

What Is… Noise?

ust what is noise and how can we eliminate or minimize it? This tutorial tries to explain all of this in as a non-technical way as possible.

Digital Camera Fundamentals

When comparing the specifications of digital cameras, it can get a little confusing if you are not well versed in the terminology used. In the following paragraphs we explain the most important attributes of a digital camera and what they can offer you.

Area Focus

In this tutorial, we will explain and show you how to use a simp,e but effective technique, the are focus.

Histogram

More and more consumer digital cameras are now including a histogram display either during the Record mode or in the Playback mode. This tutorial explains just what the histogram is and how you can use it to ensure a correctly exposed picture.

Understanding… Focal Length

In this tutorial we will talk about the focal length in digital photography, we will explain how it works and how you can make good use of it.

Understanding RAW File Format

Let’s learn about the RAW file formats, the RAW data and how that can be useful.

Depth of Field

What is depth of field, what affects depth of field, and how can we use an understanding of depth of field to take better pictures? This tutorial will make everything clear from near to far.

Night Photography

In this tutorial, our challenge is to learn how to capture the mood of a night scene, depending on whether your digital camera is capable of night photography and on a couple of simple techniques.

ISO Settings in Digital Photography

ISO Settings in Digital Photography – What is ISO?

Introduction to Shutter Speed in Digital Photography

Introduction to Shutter Speed in Digital Photography – What is Shutter Speed?

How to Hold a Digital Camera

One of the common problems that many new digital (and film) photographers have is ‘camera shake’ where images seem blurry – usually because the camera was not held still enough while the shutter was depressed. Let’s learn how to avoid that.

How Should I Clean My DSLR’s Lens?

Cleaning your camera’s lenses should be a regular (although not too regular) part of any camera owner’s maintenance. Let’s find out the best way of doing it.

10 Questions to Ask When Taking a Digital Photo

Getting in the habit of asking some simple questions can help take your images to the next level. Here’s 10 questions to get in the habit of asking while framing your shots. We’ve included links in each one to further reading on the topics. We hope you find them helpful.

11 Tips for Beginner Photographers

As a new photographer, these are some of the ideas that have helped get me going.

13 Lessons to Teach Your Child About Digital Photography

13 Lessons to Teach Your Child About Digital Photography – very good for beginners also.

How to Take Sharp Digital Images

Getting your digital images perfectly sharp is something that most photographers want – however clean, crisp, sharp images can be difficult to achieve. Let’s take a look into how we can do that.

7 Strategies for Avoiding Flash Blow Out

In this tutorial we will be explaining and looking into 7 strategies for avoiding flash blow out.

Macro Photography Tips for Point and Shoot Digital Cameras

Much has been written on the topic of Macro photography for those photographers fortunate enough to own a DSLR with macro lenses – but what about if you own a compact point and shoot camera? Can you get great macro shots too?

Understanding Photographic Terms

If you’re new to the photography world, some of the terms can seem confusing. All this insider information is not as confusing as it first seems. You just need to learn a few of the basics, and you are on your way to taking better pictures.

File Formats – Raw Vs. JPEG

There are a number of file formats available to you, each allowing you to save a different amount of image detail. However more detail does not come at a price, higher image quality equates to a higher image size. In this digital photography tutorial we are going to explain the difference in the image quality and give examples of what to use and when.

Cleaning and Care of Your DSLR

You can be as careful and preventative as possible, however dust and fingerprints will inheritely end up in places you don’t want them. While there is some significantly improved technology to provide automatic dust clearing of the image sensor, it is still necessary to clean it occasionally. In this digital photography tutorial we are going to give you a step by step guide of how to keep your camera clean and in optimal service.

Basics of Flash Photography

Here are some basic tips in this digital photography tutorial to reduce the negative effects with your in camera flash.

A Beginners Guide To ISO Settings

In this digital photography tutorial we’re going to cover the final corner of the pyramid, ISO settings.

How to use a Macro Lens

Using a macro lens is not the same as using a telephoto zoom, you will need to pay more attention on focus, lighting, the movement of the subject, camera stability, and the depth of field. Let’s see exactly how.

Introducing the Half-Press

This is an easy yet essential skill for beginners to learn. The “half-pressed” button is helpful in many ways, let’s see exactly how.

Beginner’s Guide to Photography

This is a beginner’s guide for computer geeks who want to be digital artists. Comes in handy for everyone who likes photography. Take a look!

A Beginners Guide to Photography Accessories

If you’re new to photography or you mostly just point, shoot, and hope for the best then there’s probably a whole bunch of photo equipment whose names you recognize but whose function you’re not really sure of. We’ll show you everything you need to know in the beginning in this tutorial.

100 Things You Have to Know About Photography

100 Things to know when you study and learn about photography. Enjoy!

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18 Responses:

  1. Roberto Suriguez says:

    Excelent. I want to be in touch

    ( 2 years and 4628 days ago )
  2. PJ says:

    Great guide for photography!! Thanks. Btw, if found that the Area Focus link is not correct but can be found on the tutorial page of the link.

    ( 2 years and 4599 days ago )
  3. robb says:

    i find flash and accessories tutorial are quite nice.
    thx for sharing.

    ( 2 years and 4570 days ago )
  4. jonh kenneth says:

    thx (“/) very very much

    ( 2 years and 4542 days ago )
  5. Destiny Islands says:

    Wow cool stuff dude! I am not a digital photographer, but oh boy if I had the time!

    ( 2 years and 4494 days ago )
  6. Carl Crowther says:

    Thankyou thankyou thankyou! Really appreciate you putting this list together, going to pass this link onto a few people I know that are trying to get there heads around their new acquired DSR!

    ( 2 years and 4484 days ago )
  7. Amanda says:

    This has helped me a lot! thank you so much

    ( 2 years and 4468 days ago )
  8. Lonni says:

    Thank you for all the hard work.
    Don’t ever think about deleting this page.

    ( 2 years and 4460 days ago )
  9. Beginner Photography says:

    A comprehensive list of tutorials. Thanks. I found the 100 things to know article interesting.

    Thought you might also want to check out these tutorials for beginners on Digital Photography Editing.

    ( 2 years and 4421 days ago )
  10. Jen Weiss says:

    Wow this is a great resource for any photographer, I will use some of the tutorials for sure, thank you Jen

    ( 2 years and 4356 days ago )
  11. rainz says:

    thank you for these great resource, definitely it will help my teaching in photography..its my first time though..thank you so much

    ( 2 years and 4164 days ago )
  12. japoy says:

    thank you very very big for these wonderful tutorials…you’re all the best for sharing your knowledge and talent to us beginners 🙂

    ( 2 years and 3961 days ago )
  13. nazrul says:

    wonderful tutorial for processional photographing
    thanks for every thing its really a great tutorial from you, i wish for your long live with best

    ( 2 years and 3705 days ago )
  14. khalid says:

    was looking for an impressive iPhone/iPad app for editing my photographs and one of my friend had recommended me very cool app named “Photo Splash Fx”. Although I have tried many others but this one is simply wonderful, as it enables me to

    · Make my shots awesome, no matter if they are old vintage, black and white or new high resolution colorful photos, by applying a plethora of special effects.

    · Use selective colors, variety of brush sizes (adjust manually or automatically), gestures like Pan/Zoom/Splash, unlimited Undos, Colorize, Tintalize, Recolor, blend brush to create custom effects and text blending on your photo.

    · It supports both landscape or portrait mode and options like loading/importing photo from Cloud, instead of just from the camera or photo library.

    · Choice of 135+ built-in effects on different parts of the same photo and still have the option of creating your own custom effects.

    · Option to make favorite list of built-in effects to choose them easily for future.

    · Sharing my edited photographs with friends through Email, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picassa, Dropbox or post it in form of the post card, to anywhere in the world.

    ( 2 years and 3418 days ago )
  15. khalid says:

    Version 2:

    Being an experienced photographer are you looking for some impressive iPhone/iPad app to make your photographs masterpieces instantly with a few taps? Try Photo Splash FX, with following unique features that you can’t find in any other app altogether:

    · Make your shots awesome, no matter if they are old vintage, black and white or new high resolution colorful photos, by applying a plethora of special effects.
    · Use selective colors, variety of brush sizes (adjust manually or automatically), gestures like Pan/Zoom/Splash, unlimited Undos, Colorize, Tintalize, Recolor, blend brush to create custom effects and text blending on your photo.
    · It supports both landscape or portrait mode and options like loading/importing photo from Cloud, instead of just from the camera or photo library.
    · Choice of 135+ built-in effects on different parts of the same photo and still have the option of creating your own custom effects.
    · Option to make favorite list of built-in effects to choose them easily for future.
    · Share your masterpiece with your friends through Email, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picassa, Dropbox or post it in form of the post card, to anywhere in the world.

    ( 2 years and 3415 days ago )
  16. Dave says:

    I was looking for an impressive iPhone/iPad app for editing my photographs and one of my friend had recommended me very cool app named “Photo Splash Fx”. Although I have tried many others but this one is simply wonderful, as it enables me to
    · Make my shots awesome, no matter if they are old vintage, black and white or new high resolution colorful photos, by applying a plethora of special effects.
    · Use selective colors, variety of brush sizes (adjust manually or automatically), gestures like Pan/Zoom/Splash, unlimited Undos, Colorize, Tintalize, Recolor, blend brush to create custom effects and text blending on your photo.
    · It supports both landscape or portrait mode and options like loading/importing photo from Cloud, instead of just from the camera or photo library.
    · Choice of 135+ built-in effects on different parts of the same photo and still have the option of creating your own custom effects.
    · Option to make favorite list of built-in effects to choose them easily for future.
    · Sharing my edited photographs with friends through Email, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picassa, Dropbox or post it in form of the post card, to anywhere in the world.

    ( 2 years and 3412 days ago )
  17. khalid says:

    Digital photography is becoming the most popular hobby of the world today. The recent developments of smartphones, iphone/ipad has changed the way, how we think of photography. To give professional touch to your photographs, now it is not necessary to consult some professional. One may use various tools and apps to make one’s photographs masterpieces instantly with a few taps, particularly those taken on graduation/wedding ceremony, honeymoon trip or New Year celebrations. I have used many such apps in recent past. One of such app is Photo Splash FX on iPhone/iPad that provides following unique features that you can’t find in any other app altogether. I noticed following notable features:

    · Make your shots awesome, no matter if they are old vintage, black and white or new high resolution colorful photos, by applying a plethora of special effects.

    · Use selective colors, variety of brush sizes (adjust manually or automatically), gestures like Pan/Zoom/Splash, unlimited Undos, Colorize, Tintalize, Recolor, blend brush to create custom effects and text blending on your photo.

    · It supports both landscape or portrait mode and options like loading/importing photo from Cloud, instead of just from the camera or photo library.

    · Choice of 135+ built-in effects on different parts of the same photo and still have the option of creating your own custom effects.

    · Option to make favorite list of built-in effects to choose them easily for future.

    · Share your masterpiece with your friends through Email, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picassa, Dropbox or post it in form of the post card, to anywhere in the world.

    ( 2 years and 3376 days ago )
  18. john herry says:

    For some types of photography, golden hours are best without a doubt but other types must be shot when they are happening. I shoot mostly raptors and the eagles decide

    when to fish so they dictate the light I have to work with. I can get there before first light but if the subject does not show up until three hours later, what can I

    do but shoot them in the available light and work on them in post? I think many of the articles on golden hours and blue twilight are simply pointing out that if you

    sleep through them, you are missing out on what might be a great opportunity……………………. But as you say, they are not the only opportunity. If you are

    doing nothing but landscapes you might be best to get the golden hours and go home, but other types of photography are not as limited and people would do well to bend

    those rules. One other thing I have found is that if you are limited on lenses, like say a 400mm f/5.6 lens, you are going to fight the shadows at first light and

    sunrise. You might even have focusing problems for lack of light. In those cases, shifting a few hours beyond sunrise can really help your shots.

    ( 2 years and 3196 days ago )