23 Free Photography EBooks

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You've seen them appear in some of our earlier posts on freebies. But today we decided to put all the free photography eBooks together (and many more!) in a single, mega post for you. These will keep you busy for a really long time. Go ahead, download them! Print them if you want to, or save them on your smartphone to read them on the go.

You can get 100 more free photography eBooks on our sister website Photzy.com. You can find eBooks on everything photography – fundamentals of photography, landscapes, portraits, post-processing, lighting, composition and much more – literally everything. Do check it out here.


Here Are 23 Free Photography Ebooks:

Ultimate Field Guide to Photography, by National Geographic

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This guide by National Geographic can be a serious resource for a beginner in photography as it covers almost every aspect of the basics of photography. From explaining camera settings to tips on composition and perspective, everything is nicely explained. It can also serve as a handy reference guide to refresh your basics.

Free eBook on Wildflower Photography

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Steve Berardi is a naturalist, photographer, software engineer, and founder of PhotoNaturalist. In his eBook, you’ll learn about lighting, exposure, backgrounds, battling wind, and more topics that will help you make better flower images.. If you’re interested in flower or nature photography, this is one resource you must really check out.

Essays on Inspiration, Vision and Creativity in Photography, by Scott Bourne

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This is an inspiring compilation of essays by photographer Scott Bourne. Coming from his personal experiences, the essays touch upon his insights on topics like storytelling, seeing, creativity, and vision. The wide variety of tips scattered across the eBook are sure to help you grow as a photographer.

Insights from Beyond the Lens, by Robert Rodriguez Jr

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This eBook on landscape photography covers everything from what gear is best suited to landscape photography to how to make the best use of available light to create stunning landscape images. The author also shares useful insights from his experiences that are sure to motivate you further. Do check it out. This eBook is also available for the Kindle on Amazon.

Good Photos in Bad Light, by Darwin Wiggett

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We’ve all gone through situations where bad light played a spoilsport in our photography trip, or so we thought. You don’t have to worry about it any longer because Darwin Wiggett, in this eBook, gives you plenty of tips and techniques that you can learn to create great photos in bad outdoor light. Light will no longer be your excuse for bad photos.

Set Up Your Own Photoblog, by Nancy Messiah

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Photo Blogging requires you to have a knowledge about a wide range of areas, from hosting your site to getting traffic to it. This eBook by Nancy Messiah tackles the topic in a comprehensive manner with attention to specific details about getting your site running and everything that you need to keep in mind.

Street Photography, by Alex Coghe

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Street photographer Alex Coghe shares everything he has learned through these years in this eBook. A really comprehensive guide on street photography, it gives a first hand account of how to approach street photography and get better, with some really insightful tips coming from his experience.

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This freebie on introduction to night photography will teach you how to create stunning night photographs. This includes nightscapes, star trails, moon photography and much more. You will learn the equipment required and a lot of practical ideas to keep in mind when planning your night photography.

Urban Exploration Photography, by Neil Ta

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Photographer Neil Ta has been involved in urban exploration photography for quite some time now and through this eBook, he shares everything he has learned over the years. If you are fascinated by urban exploration and looking to learn the ropes, this can be a valuable resource. So, grab your camera and start exploring your city for abandoned spaces!

HDR Top Tips, by Klaus Herrmann

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This ebook contains handy tips for HDR photography. It covers the HDR workflow starting from shooting the images right up to merging, tone-mapping and post processing the images. There are also practical guidelines to avoid and solve particular problems during the workflow.

Airplane Photography

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This ebook is for anyone who has interests in aerial photography the classical way without using the drone. It explains the basics of aerial photography including the best lenses, filters and other accessories for aerial photography plus how to light works from an aerial perspective.

Introduction to External Flash Photography

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This is a very concise guide on external flash photography. The book is barely 9 pages long and it gets straight to the point. From using flash indoors to using bounced flash, it covers all the important areas. It has dedicated sections on explaining the use of flash outdoors and how to achieve great results, all in an easy to understand language.

Before the Shutter, by Anne McKinnell

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Creating award winning photographs are not an easy task and there is a lot of work that goes into it. In this free ebook, you will learn how to research/scout for locations, improve your creative vision, create a shit list, how to shoot, what to do at the scene, and many more.

100 Lessons from the Masters of Street Photography

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“100 lessons from the masters of street photography” is an open source eBook by Eric Kim to make access to information about street photography more open and easily accessible to photographers. Keep this in hand and give this a read whenever you feel uninspired, or want something to read while on the bus or subway.

Lighting 101, by Strobist

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The ever popular online lessons on lighting in photography, Lighting 101, can be downloaded as a single file for a handy reference. It will teach you everything about lighting – lighting equipment, artificial lighting, balancing it with natural light, lighting patterns and many more tricks. If you are looking for an in-depth primer on lighting, Lighting 101 will be a great place to start.

Nine Motivational Essays on Photography, by Scott Bourne

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As photographers, we periodically experience a creative block that leaves us unmotivated. Scott Bourne’s motivational essays can be a great remedy for it. These nine essays tackle the issues of photographic motivation, creative rut, and getting photographic inspiration in different ways. A must-read for all photographers.

The Shy Photographer's Guide to Confidence, by Lauren Lim

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Many of us are shy when it comes to photographing in certain situations but that's definitely not something that cannot be taken care of. In this eBook, photographer Lauren Lim tackles the issue by providing you practical tips that will boost your confidence during a photoshoot, in a meetings or while traveling.

The Ultimate Guide to Starting Your Photography Business

If you are looking to start a photography business but have no idea how to go about it, this eBook will be a great place to start. With advice from experts who share real life knowledge, you will learn how to focus your niche, market your work, lock in clients, and manage your finances. Everything is explained in a manner that is easy to understand.

The Ultimate Guide to Starting Your Photography Business

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If you are looking to start a photography business but have no idea how to go about it, this eBook will be a great place to start. With advice from experts who share real life knowledge, you will learn how to focus your niche, market your work, lock in clients, and manage your finances. Everything is explained in a manner that is easy to understand.

Street Photography 101 by Eric Kim

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Street Photography 101 by Eric Kim is a distillation of knowledge Eric has learned about street photography during the past 8 years. This book ia a basic primer and introduction to street photography. If you’re new to street photography (or want some new ideas) this is a great starting point.

Photojournalism, Technology and Ethics, by Scott Baradell

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The eBook approaches the issue of ethics in journalism and how digital technology has affected the ‘reality' in photojournalism. It lays down certain guidelines, sort of axioms for photojournalists, that can guide them. Also included are famous cases of altered photos and staged shots from the past. If photojournalism interests you, you should check out this eBook.

31 Days to Overcome Your Fear of Shooting Street Photography

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Photographer Eric Kim provides a road map for beginners in street photography by laying down 31 days' worth of tips. Each day there's a new lesson to apply to your photography and see gradual improvement. After a month of learning, Eric is confident you would have learned the craft quite well. A great guide for the budding street photographer.

Selling Fine Art Photography

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It may be easy to take photographs but it may not be as easy to sell them, or so you might think. This eBook by Photoshelter will provide you with tips from photographers and industry professionals to hep you with selling your fine art work. From what to do and what not to do when selling your work, the guide covers everything.

Lightroom Quick Start Guide

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Victoria Brampton, of The Lightroom Queen, has put together some great guides for those looking to get started with Lightroom. Right from installing and importing photos in LR to explaining the workspace and basic editing techniques, the guide covers everything in great detail.


You can get 100 more free photography eBooks on our sister website Photzy.com. You can find eBooks on everything photography – fundamentals of photography, landscapes, portraits, post-processing, lighting, composition and much more – literally everything. Do check it out here.

About Author

Ritesh has been photographing since 2010 and his photographic interests have varied from nature and landscapes to street photography. You can see his photography on Flickr or on his website.

Hi ritesh,

Nice list of free ebooks. I like bird photography. I came across a free ebook on bird photography “15 Incredible tips for beginners”. This is really nice ebook. It is available in naturephotographysimplified blog.

Having only recently started with photography, I am looking or inspiration on what (if anything) to do with my photo’s and what subjects to consider. These e books will be great food for thought.

Thank you for sharing these books with us. I’m looking forward to reading them. This will definitely assist me in setting up and learning all about the photography business.

Great collection of E-books will keep me busy for a while.
Always looking to see and learn new and different ways of improving my photos.
Thank you!

I’ve been taking pictures for a little while….these will be a great inspiration for me. Perfect stuff for my New England Winter reading list.

Thanks for the early Christmas present(s) 🙂

I’m in photography for longer, but it is always good to get new inspiration. There are many different types of photography covered, it helps me to think more outside the box. Thanks for sharing!

Good afternoon, all.
In addition to what Ritesh already published here, I’d like to add my own Travel Photography guide, just released in March/2015, for free download. It can be obtained here: https://www.saulosilvaphoto.com/downloads/SSfp_Travel_Photography.pdf
I am sharing my own experience when traveling to photograph, my approach, equipment and mindset. It is very simple and straight to the point, no science fiction or secret techniques. Photographs are commented.
Feel free to download and share with whoever you want.
Saulo

Thank you for sharing your Ebooks. Have already ready your “The Photographers Guide to Depth in Field” excellent book and must read for any beginners. This book explains a main must have knowledge when taking photos.

Thanks so much. I already had most of these but there were a few I didn’t have.
In addition to the lightroom book problem already mentioned, Downloading Urban Exploration Photography, by Neil Ta requires a scribd subscription.

Great List of Photography books. Thanks so much for sharing these. I have been doing my photography now for several years, but there are still things that I need to improve on. These will be of great help. Thanks for sharing this list with us.

I think this is a great list of free reads. Thank you so much for sharing these. Although I ran into a few issues, there are 4 books I was unable to download. 3 of them could not be found and one wanted me to pay for it. Not sue why it would be included in a free book offering, but thank you for the 19 books that did work.

These look great I have down loaded the ones I think I will like and they will keep me going for some time – Many thanks again

Cannot get all of these eBooks – five of them just give 404 not found errors:
Going Candid, by Thomas Leuthard
Street Photography, by Alex Coghe
Collecting Souls, by Thomas Leuthard
Explore Flickr, by Thomas Leuthard
Street Faces – The Art of Candid Street Portraiture, by Thomas Leuthard

Also the link for Urban Exploration Photography, by Neil Ta wants card details

Great collection! But having same problem with Thomas Leuthard ebooks. Any advice on where to access them?
Again though THANKSfor great collection

I’m an advanced amateur photographer and I need an e-book to be given some advices on the “macro-photography to be taken in an hospital room, as a patient”, for a nephew to be treaten for months in an hospital. He said to me that he’ll buy a prosumer camera when he’ll be at home. But I know that he can do much in the hospital room, cause I can take some hundred frames daily if I were there. Can the editors or somebody can help me?

Your first problem is going to be securing permission from the facility. Most hospitals have an absolute “no pictures, video or audio recording” policy. They also have patients sign a document about that policy during admission.

As it relates to the picture taking, look into medical photography, forensic photography and wound photography. There’s probably some “how to” sites out there.

Hope your nephew heals well,
Chris

Hello Ritesh !
Thank you for sharing such a useful collection of eBooks for newbie photographers like me.
Collection is really worthy and totally free of cost.
Thanks again !

Thanks for the time you put in to gathering these freebies, but most of all for sharing them so that others can gain from your efforts

Thanks Ritesh, I appreciate the resources here. I just started training in photography and I’m hoping to get a camera for free since I can’t afford one now.

Thank you so much for your inspirational books. I have downloaded most of them and can’t wait to read and then go out with my camera! I appreciate your time and effort it took to put this all together. Again, THANK YOU!!

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