Normally when I see a headline like the above the first thought to enter my brain is “what’s the catch”. There’s always a catch, some newsletter or e-book that you have to sign up to. It’s annoying quite frankly. So here’s why my headline is different, it is all actually free.
Here’s some brilliant resources that I have found invaluable. You might know them all already, you might not. They are all definitely worth spending some time on as they provide so much instruction, and so much free content, that if you can’t learn how to use your dSLR better then you might as well put it in Program mode..
www.Strobist.com
Everything and more you needed to know about using your flash ‘off-camera’. David Hobby is passionate about getting you to take that flash off of your SLR camera, so passionate in fact that he’s all but built a religious following based on his teachings.
Apart from the two ‘courses’ that David has led his readers through there is an immense amount of information on how, why, what, when, where you should use off-camera flash, and the big plus….it’s very easy to navigate through all the information because it is presented in a way that is step by step and it doesn’t jump from easy to hard to easy to hard..
If you learn better from visual aids you’ll be pleased to know that David has pretty well all the Strobist teachings available in the DVD form which you can buy here
www.ProPhotoLife.com
Pro Photo Life hasn’t been around all that long, online since February this year, but what it lacks in age is certainly made up in video articles. The sites author, Jim Talkington (awesome name btw) has posted almost 30 video articles on things like DIY Product Photography, Beautiful Portraits with Just One Light, through to Colour Management. There’s really solid advice and information delivered in a clear and concise manner, and it’s all free.
www.Digital-Photography-School.com
I almost forgot about DPS for a second, I’m not sure how considering I receive articles from the website in my RSS reader pretty well every day. Digital Photography School was set up by Darren Rowse, of Problogger fame, and is quite easily one of the largest single photography resources on the internet today.
There is a very large and active community of photographers in the DPS forum who are always quick to help out new photographers, there’s weekly assignments to help with your technique, and there’s also loads and loads of post production tips for Photoshop, Lightroom, and Aperture. Digital Photography School is almost a one-stop-shop for everything photography related.
These three websites are my personal favourites, I’ve learnt many things from them all and would highly recommend them to anyone either starting out with a Digital SLR camera, or even those just interested in photography and brushing up their skills. There are numerous other resources out there like Flash Flavor, StudioLighting, and also Chase Jarvis’ blog that are also very worthwhile checking out as well.
Big thanks to David Hobby, Jim Talkington, Darren and the DPS team, and every other photographer who is actively helping the photography community.
