21 Best Online Photography Courses in 2024 (For All Levels)

Whether you’re stuck in a rut or hungry to take your photography to the next step, the best online photography courses are an incredible resource. There are basic courses for absolute beginners. And we’ve reviewed materials on subjects such as photography lighting and Lightroom editing.

After a thorough review, Lighting 3 by SLR Lounge is the best online photography course. This is a specialist lighting course for photographers. But don’t worry if that’s not what you’re looking for. There are 19 other fantastic photography courses in our article.

What Are the Best Online Photography Courses?

If you’re a member of the online photography community, some of the course creators will be familiar to you. SLR Lounge, Fstoppers, and Photzy all have media to help you improve as a photographer.

Reviewing 20 online courses fairly isn’t easy. But we were scientific in our approach and judged all courses on the same criteria. This included value for money, accuracy, and production value.

We’ve used, scored, and reviewed 20 of the best online photography courses. And every entry was given a final score out of 100. Read more details about our scoring system at the end of the article.

Here’s a quick overview of all 20 online courses in order. You might see something that jumps out at you. But if you need more info, we wrote about each course in more detail in the section after. 

21 Best Online Photography Courses

Now we look at all the photography courses in more detail. We’ve tried to provide all the information you need before you buy.

Here are the brief, score-based summaries of each product. But you can read our full reviews of each course by clicking the link we provide at the end of the text.

The best photography course I’ve reviewed is SLR Lounge’s Lighting 3: Advanced Off-Camera Flash. It’s flawless in its production, quality of content, images, style, and wow factor.

There are no accuracy issues or mistakes whatsoever. It’s both fun and entertaining. And it’s full of valuable information. But it’s also quite long, at 8 hours.

This course teaches you many ways to creatively light your (mainly portrait) subjects. Your photos will catch the viewers’ eye from afar and keep them amazed when watched close-up.

These lighting setups are key for professional-looking and feeling images. But there’s more to this course than just its core content. It teaches taste, creative vision, and critical thinking in photography.

It’s presented by Pye Jirsa, a photographer, and educator whom I much respect. And you can read our full review of Lighting 3 by SLR Lounge for more info.

Mastering Lightroom claims to be the “complete A to Z Adobe Lightroom tutorial.” And this statement is very close to reality. No matter how much you know about Lightroom, you can learn a lot from it.

It starts at a beginner level. And the course quickly carries on to advanced techniques and options, reaching a firm pro user level.

It’s a true gem because of its extensive coverage, flawless precision, and outstanding production. And it has a fun, logical, and to-the-point presentation.

There are great, cheaper alternatives. But this is it if you want the best you can get, especially if you’re a professional or aiming to be one.

Read our full review of Mastering Lightroom by SLR Lounge. But be aware that the original Mastering Lightroom course is no longer available.

SLR Lounge is now linking to their updated Lightroom course. We haven’t had a chance to review this one yet. But judging by their other video content, we trust it’s just as good.

This is a sequel to Lighting 3. And Lighting 4 teaches you to emulate natural light environments with flashes, strobes, and modifiers.

It has all the great aspects of its prequel. The quality of content, the imagery, the production, and the teaching style are all fantastic.

It’s rare to come across such well-produced courses in this industry. If you want to learn lighting as an amateur or a professional, there’s no better way to do it than these two courses.

You might have noticed that all three courses at the top of our podium come from the same provider. This is not a result of partiality towards SLR Lounge. These courses really do stand out.

SLR Lounge’s lighting courses are all gems. And if you’d like to start from the basics, pick up the entire lighting series. Read our full review of Lighting 4 by SLR Lounge.

Photographing the World is a massive, 13-hour video course on landscape photography and post-processing. It’s mesmerizing in all aspects.

It’s the first result of a collaboration between Fstoppers and Elia Locardi. Locardi is a well-known landscape photographer.

Their plan from the start was to create the most complete and most ambitious video course ever shot on this genre. I believe they have achieved this.

This course is the first part in a series of four successively released since 2015. The other parts focus on cityscapes, astrophotography, and more advanced landscapes.

In the first half, we’re immersed in Iceland’s vast winter mountains, waterfalls, and caves. Most of the second half is shot on the beautiful South Island of New Zealand, famous for its breathtaking scenery.

You will learn many rare techniques for both capturing and post-processing breathtaking sceneries. We also get to know Elia’s workflow from start to finish.

Photographing the World wears, by far, the heftiest price tag on our list. Thus, we didn’t reward it with a high score in terms of value for money.

But its awesomeness level in other respects is still high enough to propel it into fourth place. Read our full review of Photographing the World 1 for more info.

A bit of an easter egg here. The Photo eBook is one of the best cityscape and landscape photography guides. It features impressive techniques, resulting in amazing images.

While some parts are not fully up-to-date, its core content is extensive and elaborate, with great attention to detail. There is also a new edition in the works.

There is a section for complete beginners, but it’s better to read this book with some basic knowledge. The amount of new information will quickly overwhelm you otherwise.

Be advised that learning all the tricks and tips might take a while. There are some hard-to-master techniques in there.

But you’ll be equipped with everything you need to know to succeed in the city and landscape niches. Read our full review of The Photo eBook by Picture Correct.

Beginner photography courses are everywhere. But they rarely reach the level of awesomeness Photography 101 by SLR Lounge does.

This course is very detailed. It shows you all the little pieces of successful photography that many others miss out on.

It focuses on understanding and manipulating light, which is vital. It also introduces you to many photography genres, most importantly, portraits.

It also has little to no inaccuracies, technical mistakes, and tongue slips. This is something that lifts it out from the crowd.

Like the Lighting courses, this course is also presented by Pye Jirsa. Read our full review of Photography 101 by SLR Lounge.

To fully understand and appreciate what Lightroom can do, it’s not enough to move around some sliders. Introduction to Lightroom by Fstoppers offers not only the basic set of tools. It also gives you the right approach and philosophy for editing.

This course strongly focuses on showing Lightroom’s image editing capabilities. You can read our full review of Fstoppers’ Introduction to Lightroom.

iPhone Photo Academy by iPhone Photography School is the most comprehensive course on iPhone photography. You’ll be a genuine iPhone master after 20 hours of lessons.

In this course, you’ll get to know your iPhone’s camera. You’ll learn its advanced features and options and how to get the most out of it.

You’ll also learn many techniques, tips, and compositional rules that professionals use. Many of them work perfectly with the iPhone.

This tutorial stands out with its unique approach, easy-to-understand style, and beautiful production. It also has a vast, worldwide community. You can read our full review of the iPhone Photo Academy.

The LIT Book is similar in idea to the top performer on our list. The difference is its format.

This eBook aims to further develop your skills with off-camera flashes and other lighting accessories. It contains 52 lighting patterns by 52 pro wedding photographers from all around the globe.

You will get countless ideas and massive inspiration from this eBook. Read our full review of ShotKit’s LIT Book.

Photography 101 by Fstoppers is a beginner course that promises to teach you how to take control of all the manual settings on your digital camera.

It walks you through a basic understanding of lighting and using flash. Then it takes you along on a shoot to put everything into practice.

It also includes extensive sections on Photoshop retouching and Lightroom editing. Read our full review of Photography 101 by Fstoppers.

Renowned photographer Mitchell Kanashkevich wrote Powerful Imagery. It promises to teach you how to tell strong stories and make an impact with your images.

If this skill isn’t in your blood, it’s probably the hardest lesson. But it’s the most rewarding skill you can master in photography. Read our full review of Powerful Imagery.

Flower photography is a specific niche. So you might be surprised that Photzy’s Photographing Fabulous Flowers eBook has made it onto this list. But here’s why.

It’s very well put together, teaches you everything it promises to, and really makes you a better photographer. Not just in flower photography.

Along with Powerful Imagery, this is one of Photzy’s best ebooks. Writing and general style are both outstanding. The images shown throughout won’t disappoint you – and neither will your own photos, once you learn the ins and outs of flower photography.

The ebook also comes at a very friendly price, especially compared to the courses in our Top 5. Read the full review of Photographing Fabulous Flowers.

Decoding Lightroom is a less expensive but comparable alternative to number two on our list. It is a great choice for the hobbyist photographer who wants to learn Lightroom’s ins and outs.

You don’t need to have any former knowledge to take this course. But it can perhaps take you to a level where you will intuitively use even the more hidden features of the application.

Proper editing, after all, is a core part of a successful photo. Read the full review of Decoding Lightroom.

Snap Cards are designed to help you out in the field. They are quick summaries of the key things you need to know, like cheat sheets.

The Snap Cards are ideal for the intermediate amateur looking to get more out of their work. You can use them as go-to guides for specific topics.

I wouldn’t recommend them for fully beginner photographers. You need some fundamentals. But the cards are there as a reminder. Read our full review of Photzy’s Snap Cards.

Digital Camera Mastery is the older sibling of Photo Shortcuts (number 19 on our list). And this is the better of the two. It gives you very firm fundamentals in photography.

This includes mastering manual mode and getting familiar with camera settings, focusing, editing, and photo genres. Its video production is outstanding, too.

And this time, Photography Pro also didn’t make a pricing mistake. It’s a compelling choice, priced in line with most comparable beginner courses on the market.

It has some problems with attention to detail, but not so much as Photo Shortcuts. Overall, this is a well-rounded, comprehensive beginner course with no deal-breaking flaws.

And it zeros in on content for travel and street photographers. Read our full review of Digital Camera Mastery.

SLR Lounge is great for all sorts of photography education. While their Photographing the Milky Way is not quite as strong as their lighting or beginner courses, it’s still a great tutorial.

It’s quite short, at 2 hours. And it focuses on teaching the essentials with great accuracy.

This is a great intro to astrophotography if you have some photography experience and an understanding of the technical stuff. Read our full review of Photographing the Milky Way.

Photzy’s attempt to teach sophisticated composition approaches and techniques is successful. But Advanced Composition is not for everybody.

Its core content is great. But it has some issues with images, graphic design, and accuracy.

In a field so crowded as composition books, it’s hard to stand out. From some standpoints, Advanced Composition doesn’t do so either.

But as far as I know, its interactive, slightly textbook-like approach is unique. It’s also not particularly expensive and comes with some valuable bonuses. Read our full review of Advanced Composition.

Phil Steele‘s best and newest video course, Advanced Off-Camera Flash,  is aimed at aspiring amateurs. It’s a cohesive tutorial for those who want to perfect the basics of off-camera lighting.

Contrary to its title, there’s not a lot of advanced stuff in it. But the fundamentals are solid.

It suffers from serious production issues, which is its greatest drawback. The video and sound quality are quite mediocre. And it’s also very loosely edited—far from being fast-paced and dense in content.

If you want to broaden your photography skill set with something new, it’s definitely worth checking out. The course will safely bring you to a strong intermediate level in flash lighting.

Read our full review of Advanced Off-Camera Flash.

Photo Shortcuts is a video course for intermediate amateurs. It aims to guide you through a handful of specific fields.

Overall, it’s a nice product. It teaches key points and gives you an understanding of what genres you can pursue in photography. Its production is great, and it’s shot in a beautiful location.

But it has a recurring issue of being imprecise in the details. Most chapters had oversimplifications or technical inaccuracies. Also, its price is remarkably high.

Still, if you’re the type of photographer with solid basic knowledge and your main goal is to broaden your horizon, it’s worth checking out. Read the full review of Photography Shortcuts here.

Action Cards help photographers on the go and when their creativity is down. The cards feature 31 photo genres, with short explanations, tips, tricks, and motivation.

Their content is generally well-rounded and inspiring. The authors also give time and difficulty estimates for each topic, but I found these inaccurate.

Overall, the Action Cards are handy for amateurs who want to try as many genres as possible. Read our full review of Photzy’s Action Cards.

Long-exposure photography is a mysterious and challenging field, especially in the daytime. With current digital technology, it’s easier to pursue than ever before.

Photzy decided to do their take on it. And we wish they didn’t. The Complete Guide to Long-Exposure Photography eBook is one of the less appealing photography products I’ve seen.

The only thing that saves it is its moderate, sub-$20 price. And the eBook gives you a fairly clear picture of what gear you’ll need and how to set it up.

There’s also some valuable composition advice—but nothing extraordinary. In every other aspect, this eBook by Photzy is heavily lacking. Read our full review of the Complete Guide to Long Exposure. 

Our Scoring System for Online Photography Courses

We introduced a score-based ranking system to make our reviews more objective. Our system gives a score out of 100.

You can see a breakdown of each section below the following table. But most importantly, it shows how you should interpret the total score.

What the Total Score Means

As a guideline, here’s how we evaluate the scores:

• 0-50: Avoid at all costs.
• 50-65: Mediocre, but may be valuable for a certain niche of photographers.
• 65-80: Good, with flaws that we don’t believe to be deal-breaking.
• 80-90: Excellent products, with few to no issues.
• 90-100: No-brainer deals.

Here’s how we scored each online photography course. Below it, you will find more detailed descriptions. Keep in mind that we’re updating this list often.

How We Scored Each Online Photography Course

Here are seven topics we covered in scoring each photo course.

1. Value for Money

We compared a course’s price to its direct alternatives on the market. We also assessed how much you would gain financially and intellectually from it.

We always base this on the advertised, often discounted price, not the theoretical full price. Consider 14 and above a good deal, and 17 or above an exceptionally great deal, out of the maximum of 20.

2. Course Coverage

We have lots of experience creating and reviewing courses. So we have a fairly clear picture of what a course or eBook should contain within its photography niche.

If it missed out on important points, this score went down. If we saw additional, valuable knowledge included, it went up and could reach a total of 20 points.

3. Accuracy of Info

We often find inaccurate or even wrong information disclosed. Or there are heavy oversimplifications during the review process. We believe that a great course should not contain any of these.

This score can also go up to 20. Above 15, there were no significant problems in this aspect. Above 18 is what we consider excellent. This meant the creators paid great attention to detail.

4. Ease of Learning

It’s important for a course to translate well to its audience. So we looked at how logically a course is built and if it had a clear line of thought.

We assessed their consistency in terms of design, use of words and signs, and understandability. Additionally, we examined unnecessary professional jargon, which is often a problem.

This score can reach a total of 15. And above 12 is considered great.

5. Production Value

This point looked at design, formatting, transparency, and digital integration in eBooks. In video courses, we judged audio and image quality.

We also examined editing consistency, animation and text elements, lighting, and resolution. This is also where the quality of the photos in the course counts.

The maximum here is also 15. And we consider anything above 12 excellent.

6. Uniqueness

Here, we looked at how special a course’s photography niche is. It goes up if there are very few alternatives.

We also gave extra points here for unusual features. This included extra videos in eBooks or additional checklists or cheat sheets.

These are not strictly related to the core content of a course. So we viewed these points as possible plus points, a maximum of five.

7. Community and Learning Support

We gave another five points for this category. It includes if a course provider has great customer support, extra educational material, or updates their courses often.

“Community” can include Facebook groups or good comment integration on the provider’s own website.

Conclusion: The Best Online Photography Courses

As we’ve seen, an online photography course is a great way to upgrade your skills. Whether you need help with lighting or composition, there’s an online resource for you. Of course, some are better than others. And some are niche products that don’t have a broad appeal.

We were fair and objective in our approach. And the process put Lighting 3 by SLR Lounge at the top of our list. It’s a niche video course. But the detail, professionalism, and production values make it a worthy winner. It’s the best online photography course we’ve come across!