Photography is a skill based craft. Gear might help you, it is your tool and it is the final 10% of an image. But the big 90% are skills such as handling your gear, being creative, knowing how to interact with your subject, dealing with tricky photographic situations, and so many more.

When I got my first DSLR I was lucky enough to have my brother in law borrow me the book “The Digital Photography Book”, written by Scott Kelby. It taught me a lot about exposure, apertures, landscapes, portraits, flowers (and why to shoot them as a practice for portraits). But more than that, reading this book, trying things out and practicing did influence me in the long run: I knew that my photography would get better through learning and practice.

In this post I want to recommend resources for learning photography and cinematography that have been the most important to me. Besides those, you will be able to find plenty of tutorial videos on Youtube. And there is CreativeLive: It is is a great resource. You can watch classes live for free and you can buy on demand access, which is still way cheaper than usual workshops.

Here are my most crucial recommendations for learning photography:

Cinematography basics and resources:

  • No Film School: If you are just starting out to shoot video, I definitely recommend their “The DSLR Cinematography Guide“. I learned so much from that, and it’s free!
  • DSLRguide: I really like that guy! He has a very honest, story and not gear related approach to cinematography.