When learning about photography, it’s a good idea to expand your knowledge any way you can. If that’s your attitude, then you will love these free photography ebooks.
They are packed full of information, tips, and vital knowledge that will help you improve your photography skills. Whether you’re a beginner or pro, there are new things to learn in these photography ebooks.
In exchange for the freebies, you may be asked to give your email address or sign up for a mailing list. (You can unsubscribe immediately after.) But with others, you can download them straight away!
This collection of ebooks covers a wide range of topics. You can learn about different aspects of photography, from photography lighting to candid street photography.
© Chris Dodds
Must-Read Free Photography eBook Resources
Don’t download all the ebooks at once. You’ll be overwhelmed with information. Take your time to look through our list to see what sparks your interest.
Look for one that appeals to you and your style of photography, then you can expand from there. You can always return to this page to download more ebooks at a later date.
If you want a shortcut, start here. If you’re still shooting on auto, read Ian Middleton’s A Practical Guide to Photography first. If you already know the settings and want stronger photos, go to Craft & Vision’s Eleven Ways. If people are the part that scares you, pair Eric Kim’s 31 Days with Photzy’s Photographing Strangers. If you want to light a scene rather than wait for one, Lighting 101 is a whole free course. And if you’re not short of knowledge but short of ideas, Scott Bourne’s two essay collections are the ones to reach for.
1. Lighting 101 – David Hobby
We consider this ebook essential reading for any aspiring photographer. David Hobby is an experienced professional photographer with tens of thousands of pro gigs under his belt. He’s also a great teacher, and he’s poured all his experience and knowledge into this fascinating ebook.
David teaches you everything you need to know when getting started with photography lighting. He tells you what type of equipment you’ll need (and don’t worry, he’s very budget-conscious). You’ll learn how to get the correct lighting in different settings. And he covers lighting for a wide range of genres.
There is no PDF to download. Lighting 101 lives on Hobby’s Strobist blog, which he archived in 2021 and left online, so the whole course is still there and still free. Lighting 102 and 103 are free too, and the link below is the introduction that starts the series.
One thing to check before you begin. You need a camera that gives you control of shutter speed and aperture, and a hot shoe to mount a flash on. Almost any DSLR or mirrorless body qualifies. If you shoot on a phone, start somewhere else on this list.
Access the Course: Lighting 101
© David Hobby
2. Ultimate Field Guide to Photography – National Geographic
A brilliant starting point for any enthusiastic photographer, the National Geographic’s field guide is a must-read.
As all good manuals should, it starts with the fundamentals. It teaches you how to correctly expose your images. It has information on different types of lenses and what they’re good for. You’ll learn about all the useful camera modes so you’re ready for any situation.
They even cover flash photography, telling you how to bounce or diffuse your flash light for a more natural finish. The ebook also has info on composition, color balance, and depth of field. You’re guaranteed to be a better photographer after reading this educational resource.
Download eBook: Ultimate Field Guide to Photography
3. Overcome Your Fear of Shooting Street Photography – Eric Kim
Shooting street photography can be daunting at first. You’re surrounded by strangers and you don’t know how they are going to react to you taking pictures in public. But as long as you stay within the laws of the country you’re in, you shouldn’t have any trouble.
Renowned street photographer Eric Kim encourages new shooters to get out on the street and start taking pictures. He gives you practical advice that helps you build confidence. By the end, you’ll be a fearless street photographer that never misses a moment in the urban jungle.
Read and Download eBook: Overcome Your Fear of Shooting Street Photography
© Eric Kim
4. Thinking and Seeing in Black and White – Photzy
Black and white looks easy until you try it. Take a photo that worked in color, drain the color out, and it often falls apart, because the color was the thing holding it together. Kevin Landwer-Johan’s guide is about the skill that fixes that. It teaches you to spot a black and white photo before you press the shutter, not after.
He opens with a short history of monochrome and why it outlived the arrival of color. Then he gets to the useful part: choosing subjects that suit grayscale and learning how colors translate into tones. Two hues that look nothing alike can land on the same flat gray, and knowing that in advance changes what you point the camera at.
There is a section on how lighting shifts those tones, and a trick of Kevin’s for previewing a scene in black and white on the spot so you are not guessing. It is a Photzy quick guide, so you can read it in one sitting. Give an email address and the PDF arrives.
It is not a processing tutorial. There is no step-by-step Lightroom or Silver Efex conversion in it, so if you want software instructions this is the wrong download. What it teaches is everything that has to happen before the edit.
Download eBook: Thinking and Seeing in Black and White
5. Eleven Ways to Improve Your Photography – Craft & Vision
Once you’ve got a grip on the basics, this ebook from Craft & Vision is the perfect next step. It explores ideas around composition, and how you make your photos more interesting and engaging.
Learn how to direct the eye and find more dynamic images. Refine your photography style and work collaboratively with others to help improve your work.
It’s an engaging and eye-opening ebook that’s full of wonderful examples. You need to give this a read through if you’re stuck in a photography rut. It’ll breathe new life into your photography practice.
Download eBook: 11 Ways You Can Improve Your Photography
6. 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography – Eric Kim
Eric Kim's second entry on this list is a very different kind of book. Instead of teaching you technique, it distils what he learned from studying the greats: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, Vivian Maier, Daido Moriyama, and more.
Each lesson is short and practical. You get the photographer's approach, a set of their images, and a takeaway you can use on your next walk. It teaches you how to see rather than which settings to dial in.
It is a big book, and you do not have to read it in order. Dip in, take one lesson out with you, and come back for the next. It is released free and open-source, so there is no email sign-up and no catch.
Download eBook: 100 Lessons From the Masters of Street Photography
7. Photographing Strangers – Photzy
The hardest part of street photography is not the camera work. It is walking up to someone you have never met and raising a lens to your eye.
Karlo De Leon wrote this short guide for Photzy, and he is professionally trained in human behavior, which shows. He covers how to study a stranger before you raise the camera, how the location changes the reaction you get, what your own clothing signals to the person in front of you, and how to read body language for the answer before anybody speaks.
He also settles the question every street photographer argues about: whether to stay hidden or be obvious about what you are doing. He makes the case for each, and he tells you what to do if somebody confronts you.
It pairs well with Eric Kim's books above. Where they build your eye, this one builds the nerve to use it. You give an email address to get the PDF, and you can unsubscribe straight after. It is a quick guide rather than a book, so do not expect anything on technique or camera settings.
Download eBook: Photographing Strangers
8. Thirteen Tips for Wildflower Photography – Steve Berardi
This one’s a bit niche, but flower photography is a great way for new photographers to learn the basics. It’s a must-read for genuine wildflower enthusiasts, but any photographer can learn a thing or two in this concise yet detailed ebook.
It tells you how to master light in wild situations. It helps you with focusing so you can capture detailed close-ups. The book also covers depth of field, editing, and shooting in windy settings.
Read and Download eBook: 13 Tips for Wildflower Photography
9. Introduction to External Flash Photography – Photo Extremist
Using a camera flash is a great way to give yourself more light in dark situations. But using a flash correctly can be tricky, which is why this Introduction to External Flash Photography is so important.
Used incorrectly, flash light gives you overly bright, cold light that look too intense and washed out. But a little bit of knowledge goes a long way with flash photography. And even after a quick read through of this ebook, you’ll have a better understanding of how to use your flash more effectively.
It mainly looks at using flashes for portrait photography, but much of the information is transferable. It isn’t the longest ebook on the list, but definitely worth reading if you want to use a flash.
Read and Download eBook: Introduction to External Flash Photography
© Sean McGrath / Photo Extremist
10. A Practical Guide to Photography – Ian Middleton
It’s easy to get stuck on auto mode when you’re just starting your photography journey. But the quicker you move to manual mode, the faster you’ll improve. Ian Middleton’s guide is built for that exact step, and it assumes you know nothing at all.
He starts with light itself, then lenses, then the three settings that decide every exposure you will ever make: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. Each one gets its own treatment before he combines them, so you understand what you are trading away whenever you move one of them.
After that comes white balance, focusing, exposure compensation, and how to read a histogram instead of trusting the picture on the back of the camera. He finishes on RAW versus JPEG. It is laid out to read on a computer, a tablet, or a large phone, so you can keep it open beside you while you practice.
The digital edition is free when you join his newsletter, and there is a printed edition too, published by Schmetterling Productions, if you would rather have it on paper. If you already shoot in manual without thinking about it, this one has little to add. It covers the fundamentals thoroughly and goes no further, which is the right scope for a first book.
Read and Download eBook: A Practical Guide to Photography
11. Essays on Inspiration, Creativity, and Vision in Photography – Scott Bourne
This ebook from Scott Bourne is a collection of 10 excellent essays on photography. He doesn’t look at anything technical, like camera settings or light equipment. Rather, Bourne examines the creative side of photography.
He starts the collection with an essay on storytelling, telling the reader how to build narrative through image. You have essays on finding inspiration, seeing, and clarity.
These might sound like high-minded concepts for photography essays, but Bourne’s writing is surprisingly accessible. He’s not pretentious and the writing is easy to follow and understand.
The essay collection is an eye-opening read, and we recommend it to anyone wanting to expand their creativity and push their work to a new level.
Read and Download: Essays on Inspiration, Creativity, and Vision
© Scott Bourne
12. Three Tips for Maximum Photo Sharpness – Photzy
“Tack sharp” is a phrase every photographer uses and nobody explains. There is no sharpness dial on a camera, so getting there means stacking a few decisions correctly, and most soft photos come from getting one of them wrong.
Jenn Mishra’s guide gives you three of them. First, the camera settings that decide how much detail a file can hold. Second, the autofocus options that put the focus exactly where you meant it to go, every time. Third, the post-processing that finishes the job without tipping over into crunchy oversharpening.
The value is in learning which of the three is failing you. Once you can tell a focus miss from a settings problem, you stop applying the wrong fix and wondering why nothing improved.
It stays practical throughout and never wanders off into lens optics or diffraction. If the lens itself is what is letting you down, no amount of technique will rescue it.
Download eBook: Three Tips for Maximum Photo Sharpness
13. Motivational Essays on Photography – Scott Bourne
It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a seasoned veteran, all photographers find themselves in a rut from time to time. Thankfully, we have Scott Bourne, back again, to give us a kick up the backside with his motivational essays.
This is a joyful piece of work from Bourne. It’s brimming with positivity and genuinely helpful advice on how to get yourself out of a rut and find inspiration.
You don’t have to read them all at once. Each essay has value as a stand-alone piece. But the collection works as a life-vest when you don’t feel creative. Dipping into one or two of these essays will be enough to get you up and shooting with renewed vim and vigour.
Download eBook: Nine Motivational Essays on Photography
© Scott Bourne
14. Photojournalism, Technology, and Ethics: What’s Right and Wrong Today? – Scott Baradell
The life of a photojournalist isn’t an easy one. Not only does it involve travel, danger, and hardship, but there are also ethical questions you need to think about.
Scott Baradell’s ebook is the perfect introduction if you’re interested in practicing photojournalism. He doesn’t shy away from the issues confronting photojournalists and their profession in the modern world.
New technology and a suspicious public make life difficult for honest news photographers. But Baradell’s book helps you navigate these stormy waters.
Baradell sets out an ethical framework for photojournalists to follow in the 21st Century. You might find issue with one or two points, but it sets a basis for the discussion.
One caveat. He wrote it in 2012 and says so himself, so it predates AI-generated images and deepfakes entirely. Read it for the grounding rather than for the arguments being had now.
Read and Download ebook: Photojournalism, Technology, and Ethics: What’s Right and Wrong Today?
15. How to Become a Confident Photographer – Photzy
Confidence is the quiet blocker in photography. You know what you want to shoot and you do not shoot it, or you make the photo and cannot decide whether it is any good.
Karlo de Leon takes that apart properly. He separates confidence from competence, then shows you how to assess your actual competence, so the confidence has something real underneath it rather than being a pep talk. There is a section on reassuring yourself that you are improving, one on why supportive peers matter more than you think, and one on how plain preparation does more for your nerves than positive thinking ever will.
The tone is direct rather than motivational-poster. It closes with goal setting and a list of specific tasks to work through, so you finish with something to do rather than something to feel.
It is about you, not about your photographs. If your work has a technical problem, this guide will not find it, and there is nothing here about cameras or settings.
Download eBook: How to Become a Confident Photographer
16. More Great Ways to Make Stronger Photographs – Craft & Vision
Craft & Vision’s second free anthology runs to 45 pages and nine chapters, each written by a different photographer and edited by David duChemin. Where the volume at number five is about ideas, this one is about execution.
Martin Bailey opens it with shooting in manual mode, and returns later with a chapter on making sharper images. Nicole Young covers learning to see the light, and duChemin follows her with redeeming the light, which is the chapter to read on the days when the conditions are against you. Sean McCormack takes on balancing flash with ambient light.
The rest is craft you can practice this week. duChemin on isolating a subject and on trying a frame in black and white, Piet Van den Eynde on shooting more and developing less, and Dave Delnea on pursuing consistency across a body of work.
It is a straight PDF with no email address required. Watch the file size, though. It is around 55 MB, because the photographs are reproduced large, so download it on a decent connection rather than on mobile data.
Download eBook: More Great Ways to Make Stronger Photographs
17. How to Promote Your Photography Brand From Home – Photzy
Photography work does not arrive on its own. Plenty of capable photographers stay unbooked simply because nobody outside their own family knows what they shoot, and that is as true in wedding photography as it is in portraits or product work.
Ludmila Borosova’s guide is about fixing that from home, with no studio and no budget. She opens with the one mistake most photographers make the moment they start promoting themselves, then builds the basics of a brand underneath you: what you shoot, who it is for, and how you say both in a sentence.
From there it turns practical. Networking, which she treats as a learnable skill rather than a personality type, then building a social media presence and converting the attention it brings into real enquiries.
It is a marketing guide, so it says nothing at all about taking better photographs, and it assumes you already have work worth showing. If your portfolio is not there yet, come back to this one later.
Download eBook: How to Promote Your Photography Brand From Home
© Tom the Photographer
Conclusion
Any aspiring photographer should be looking for any resource they can find that will help them improve. And as we’ve seen, there are plenty of free photography ebooks brimming with valuable tips and information.
These ebooks are so fantastic, it’s hard to believe these generous photographers are giving them away for free. But they are, and we need to make the most of it.
Do you want even more free photography resources? Check out our top list of photography books to improve your skills.
And are you looking to improve your photography even more? Of course, you are! So read our Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Photography.
