Free Resources To Improve Your Photography

With all of us stuck at home practicing social distancing there is no better time than now to  improve our skills as photographers and get inspired. In this article I will share some of my favorite free resources I use to improve my skills not only as a photographer but as a business owner. In this article I recommend videos, podcasts, books, websites and more. All free resources to help you improve your photography and business and maybe even get inspired.

Videos

Let's start with the best. My favorite photographer/videographer has to be Peter McKinnon and considering he has 4.5 million subscribers on youtube it's safe to say I'm not the only one. His videos are not only informative but funny and entertaining, plus his videos are full of movie quality cinematography. He's just that good. I follow him for inspiration and general knowledge on portraits, landscape, product photography, and video.

@petermckinnon on IG

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Evan Ranft is another great photographer with great video tutorials. I follow him for inspiration and general knowledge on Portraits and Street Photography. He's one of my favorite street photographers out of Atlanta, GA. His color grading is top notch and has a cinematic Neo-noir feeling to his work

@evanranft on IG

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Sorelle Amore is the Queen of self portraits. Her outgoing bubbly personality, amazing accent, beautiful locations, and skills in front and behind the camera always make for a great video. Sorelle is a must follow for photographers and models alike. Because she only takes photos of her self she has great insight on posing as well as photography. She's also constantly traveling to beautiful places so add her channel to your list of location scouting tools.

@sorelleamore on IG

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These next 2 guys I follow for 3 reasons. Portraits, Travel, and Cars. Chris Hau and Alen Palander have some of the best portrait photography, car photography, and travel photography you will find. These 2 guys are extremely talented and offer free advice on their channels as well as stunning video. Get inspired by these 2.

@thechrishau on IG

@alenpalander on IG

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Sean Tucker is a legendary street photographer. Sean offers great information on his youtube channel on street photography, editing, and portraits. You wont want to miss his content.

@seantuck on IG

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Now this one is more of a marketing expert not so much photography. That being said everything I've learned about social media marketing I've learned from Gary Vaynerchuk. If you haven't heard of him you must be living under a rock because everyone I know follows him for marketing advice and day to day inspiration. I love his "I don't give a fuck what you think" attitude.

@garyvee on IG

Podcasts

The Beginner Photography Podcast is a free weekly podcast hosted by wedding photographer Raymond Hatfield who interviews professional photographers of all genres who share what they wish they knew when they got started so you can grow your photography skills faster! I don't shoot weddings often but still take something away from every episode. Don't let the name fool you, this is no podcast just for beginners. Even seasoned photographers can gain insight from this podcast.

Level-up your photography with the Master Photography Podcast. No matter your needs or experience level, one of their shows on their network is going to feed your passion for photography and help you to master your craft. So much great information on their multiple shows.

Six Figure Photography is hosted by the award winning international wedding photographer Ben Hartley. Abundance comes from understanding your own self-worth and providing value to everyone you encounter. Six Figure Photography exists to inspire, empower & challenge photographers towards creating a life of abundance not just in profits, but in creativity and relationships. Ben does this through his weekly podcast, online training, and hands-on workshops. I've listened to almost everyone of his podcasts and learned something new with every episode.

Jenna Martin, from Billings, Montana hosts the podcast Creative Chaos. This podcast is perfect for the oddballs and misfits of the world trying to turn their creative passions into legitimate careers. They discuss everything about creative professions; both the artistic side AND the business side. You'll learn how to produce your very best work on a consistent basis, how to grow your social media following, how to create passive income streams, and how to streamline you're dream business. Also checkout their DD ("Deep Dive") episodes where their guests go far more in-depth into various artistic careers.

I listen to this one for marketing and daily inspiration not photography although the tips and tactics I learned from this podcast has improved my photography business. On his global top 100 iTunes podcast The GaryVee Audio Experience, you’ll hear episodes of Garys favorite series called the #AskGaryVee Show, a mix of his best highlights from his DAILYVEE documentary video series, keynote speeches on marketing and business, interviews, fireside chats, and any of his new and current thoughts that he records specifically for this audio experience!

Books

Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss $14.88 - Tactics, Routines, & Habits from Billionaires

This book contains the tools, tactics, routines, and habits of billionaires, icons, and world-class performers you won’t find anywhere else.

What makes the book different from most is a relentless focus on actionable details. This is reflected in the questions. For example: What do these people do in the first sixty minutes of each morning? What do their workout routines look like, and why? What books have they gifted most to other people? What are the biggest wastes of time for novices in their field? What supplements do they take on a daily basis? You get the idea. What most photographers don't understand is that you can learn life and business altering tactics from world-class performers in a range of industries outside our own.  

#AskGaryVee by Gary Vaynerchuk $14.95 - Social Media Tactics

Look, if you're a photographer trying to make money with photography you need this book. End of story. I own all of Gary Vees books and they are all great but this one has the most applicable information for you to consume and use right away. 95% of my clients come from Facebook and Instagram (without adds) and that's because I use the information I learned in this book to slay the social media game.

#AskGaryVee features the most useful and interesting questions Gary has addressed on his popular Youtube channel. Gary presents practical, timely, and timeless advice on marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and everything else you've been afraid to ask but are dying to know. Gary gives you the insights and information you need on everything from effectively using Twitter to launching a small business, hiring superstars to creating a personal brand, launching products effectively to staying healthy-and even buying wine. Buy this book, then buy his others.

For more book recommendations checkout my article 9 Books Every photographer needs to be more successful. Of course books aren't free but you can find these at the library to rent for free :)

15 Free Lightroom Presets

Are you struggling to find a way to edit your photographs with a professional touch? Are you having a difficult time choosing between Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to edit your photographs?

In order to make it easier, PhotoWhoa is giving you various options to enhance your photographs. There is no need to choose between the two as they offer creative and professional presets for Lightroom and various actions for Photoshop.

These presets are compatible with both Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop and are used by many photographers across the globe as they help to make the workflow easy while ensuring that the editing process is enjoyable as well.

They are an excellent tool used by not only professional photographers but also amateur ones.
In these, Lightroom presets offered by BeArt-Presets, various photo editing tools have been combined to create high-quality pictures. When it comes to adjusting the tone of photographs along with setting the appropriate exposure of a picture. These offer various combinations of editing features to create high-quality photographs that have a professional touch.

Free (Royalty free) Images on Unsplash

Unsplash is a platform powered by an amazing community that has gifted hundreds of thousands of their own photos to fuel creativity around the world. So sign up for free, or don’t. Either way, you’ve got access to over a million photos under the Unsplash license—which makes them free to do-whatever-you-want with. This site is great because the photos are so much better quality than boring standard stock photos. And they are all free to use however you like! :)

Build a Free Website with Weebly

When I built my first website I had no money so I did it for free with Weebly. With Weebly you get access to customizable webpage designs and useful tools to build your website and grow your photography business. Easily build a free website to help you get discovered and grow your customer base in style. It's never been easier to start your own website with no knowledge of webdesign. This is a great way to start that blog you've been talking about.

Free Photoshop Alternative

Gimp is a free, open-source alternative to Photoshop that's been around for many years, GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. Today it's available in versions for Linux, Windows and Mac.

GIMP offers a wide toolset, similar to Photoshop in many ways, and is a great option if you're looking for a no-cost image editor. The interface differs somewhat from Photoshop, but a version of GIMP is available that mimics Adobe's look and feel, making it easier to migrate over if you're ditching Photoshop.

The full suite of tools is everything you're accustomed to, including painting tools, colour correction, cloning, selection, and enhancement. The team that oversees development has worked hard to ensure compatibility too, so you'll be able to work with all the popular file formats without any trouble at all. You'll also find a very capable file manager built in, along similar lines to Adobe's Bridge.

Overall, this is a great option whether you've either got a limited budget, or want to move away from Photoshop for other reasons.

Free Overlays & PNGS with DeviantArt

DeviantArt is the world's largest online social community for artists and art enthusiasts, allowing people to connect through the creation and sharing of art. This site is great for any digital artists who use Photoshop alot. Need an object with a transparent background or an overlay of smoke, fire, magic, rain, snow, etc? You can find it all on DeviantArt for free.

The point is, we’ve never lived in a time where we have so many free resources at our fingertips to help us elevate our skills and business.  I hope these resources helped and if you have anything to add please do so in the comments below.