Why not take this time that you're likely stuck at home during stay-at-home restrictions across the globe and do an online photography course? It's especially relevant if you are one of the millions of people across the planet under stay-at-home restrictions.

You might as well use some of the time creatively to improve your skills. If you're thinking of taking a photography course, here are useful tips on how to select a class that's right for you. 

Useful Tips for Selecting a Photography Course

1. What are your goals?

Before you can select a class, you should establish some end goals for yourself. First, ask yourself these two questions:

• What do you want to get out of a course?

• How much time do you want to commit to learning?

There are literally thousands of classes from which to choose. Knowing what you want to get out of a class and how much time you can realistically commit to the course is critical if you want a good outcome.

We suggest the following process:

• Ask yourself what you want to gain from the class. Are you looking for a professional-level course or an enrichment class that anyone would benefit from? Basic or advanced? Degree or certificate?

• Consider the cost. How much are you willing to pay for a program? The more professional the level, the more it's going to cost you. In some places, the cost of the course might be a tax-deduction your business can take at the end of the year. 

• Ask questions before you pay a lot for a class. What exactly are you getting? Is the course highly technical, and do you have the correct background to succeed in the course? Ask who is teaching and ask about their experience and knowledge. You might want to review their body of work to ensure their style is of interest to you and a good fit. If at all possible, read reviews about the teacher. Being a phenomenal photographer doesn't always translate into being an excellent teacher. So, be sure to ask plenty of questions before you sign up for a class.

2. Is the class right for you?

For a class to be worth your time, it should meet your expectations. You'll want to know how the course will be taught. 

• Does the course allow for practice? Will there be feedback? For example, in photography, it's crucial to have quality classroom instruction as well as practice out in the field. Without that practice, you're less likely to retain the techniques being taught. 

• Ask about the curriculum. You need to know what the curriculum is to decide if a class is right for you or not.

• How much material will be covered? If it sounds like there is a lot of content, possibly too much, for the length of the course, it's probably not a well-taught class. More isn't better in a short period. 

• Is there any homework, and what does it typically involve? 

• What is the length of the class? It can take more than one day to learn the basics of photography - enough to get you started. However, it might be possible to squeeze in the necessary material for other genres of photography. To fully grasp all of the information needed for more advanced photography, like manual photography or advanced lighting, typically involves weeks of instruction as well as practice. 

• What is the class size? Smaller classes can mean more individualised attention from an instructor. While larger classes shouldn't necessarily be a turn-off, there can be a difference in what you experience in a class based on its enrolment size. 

• Ask what the teacher to student ratio is for the course. Depending on the topic of the class, eight to ten students is an ideal number. It offers the opportunity for more significant interaction between the teacher and student. Obviously, if it's an online course, the number of students in the class might not matter. However, if there is an expectation for virtual interaction between the students and the instructor during the online course, then you do want a small number of students. 

3. Quality programs make a difference

Lastly, taking a class from a reputable school or program and an experienced instructor will make a significant difference to educational outcomes. A school doesn't have to be large or longstanding, but it should offer a reliable, quality program and curriculum taught by experienced professionals. You must research a program before signing up for it. Read reviews and expect transparency in what you're both paying for and getting. 

• Consider the quality of the instructor, the curriculum, and the overall interaction with the program. 

• Red flags should go up for you if you have any doubts, or you feel there is a lack of transparency by the program or on its website. 

Many sites are offering huge discounts right now! There are countless courses you can take online, so we thought we'd list some for you! It will save you the time of having to do random internet searches. 

There are courses for every skill level, in various lengths, and budgets. Some are free (check out YouTube), while others will require some financial investment on your part. Typically, the highest quality courses aren't free. Feel free to share this post with your photography friends. Most of us can learn something or boost our skillsets - and there is a course out there for everyone!

List of 45 The Best Photography Classes You Can Take Online

UDEMY: A leader in online education, they offer many types of photography classes for all levels and in various (lower) price points, including a few free courses. Here are a few of their many offerings.

Introductory Free Course: From camera basics to the correct techniques to set your AF mode, AF points, resolution, etc.

Photography Masterclass: A Complete Guide to Photography: A comprehensive course that includes everything from how to master your camera, manual settings, how to compose your shots, lighting, to editing.

The Ultimate Photography Course for Beginners: This covers the fundamentals of photography, starting with the basics and things like the Exposure Triangle, and post-processing.

Online Photography Community: At Daise, Learn all about Photography from Industry Experts and climb your way up the ladder to become a professional.

Adobe Lightroom CC: Landscape Photography Masterclass 2020: Improve your Lightroom CC skills and techniques to improve your landscape photos, learn to edit them better, and master the basic features of Adobe Lightroom.

iPhone Photography | Take Professional Photos On Your iPhone: Everything you need to know about how to take fabulous pictures on your iPhone.

CRAFTSY (Bluprint) offers tutorials (many are introductory in nature) on anything from knitting to photography. Their classes are free until April 16, 2020! 

Photography for Bloggers: A basics for those of you who want to improve your blog's photography.

Intro to DSLR Photography: A class for getting started with that camera you got for the holidays last year and haven't touched!

Intro to Lightroom: Here's a chance to start using one of the most popular photo editing software in the world.

Intro to Android-photography: Learn to master your Android for better pictures.

CREATIVELIVE offers a ton of online classes for creatives. 

Portrait Photography Bootcamp w/ Lindsay Adler: A primer on portraits from the basics to more advanced skill for better portrait photography. 

How to Start a Photography Business: Everything you need to know over 12-weeks to start a photography business, including how to create a business plan, research competitors and the market, create a marketing plan and marketing materials on a budget, sales, and managing a small business.

Master your People Skills: We all need to know how to manage people if we're going to deal with clients. Learn about effective communication methods and relationship-building strategies.

Newborn Photography Bootcamp: Everything you need to know about working with newborns, including posing, props to use, handling babies properly, and creative ideas.

The Beginner Photographer's Crash Course teaches all the basics of how to use your new digital camera to take great pictures. 

KELBYONE  is a creative website that focuses strictly on photography and offers a wide variety of programs at different levels. 

Mastering Metadata: Everything you need to know about metadata, including why it matters.

Making Beautiful Books in Lightroom: Professional photographers make extra income from products such as photo books. This will teach you how to make them in Lightroom.

Learn Lightroom CC in One Hour: A great way to learn the basics of Lightroom.

Lightroom Mobile from Start to Finish: This course teaches you how to set up Lightroom Mobile, viewing images and editing them in Mobile.

COURSERA  is one of the leaders (if not the leader) in academic online access education. Many universities and colleges around the globe offer classes through it. There are various price points available, including a few free programs.

Photography Basics and Beyond: From Smartphone to DSLR Specialization is offered by Michigan State University teaches everything from camera use to composition.

2Seeing Through Photographs: a fun, free course that is purely for enrichment and is offered by the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

Photography Techniques: Light, Content, and Sharing is offered by Michigan State University. This is fourth in a series and is for the more advanced photographer.

Fundamentals of Digital Image and Video Processing is offered by Northwestern University. In this advanced course, you can learn the basic principles and tools used to process images and videos, and how to apply them in solving practical problems of commercial and scientific interests.

Intro to photography (formerly known as Reddit Photo class) is taught by a French photographer and has 30 separate lessons. It starts with the basics of photography gear and ends with sharing your work and how to take your photographer further. 

DAVID MOLNAR COURSES: a renowned photographer has created a series of training and photography videos (some are free).

MASTERS OF PHOTOGRAPHY offers classes with some of the world's top photographers. Most photographers offer a Discovery Class, which more basic, and a Master Class, more advanced.

Joel Meyerowitz Teaches Photography teaches "how to incorporate the knowledge, ethos, and philosophy of one of the world's greatest photographers into your own photography." He offers two classes: Discovery Class and a Master Class 

Steve McCurry - whose iconic photos have graced National Geographic and other magazine covers - offers two courses.

Al Watson offers a class on studio portraiture and lighting. 

Free films on photography: Masters of Photography offers a cadre of free movies featuring some of the biggest names in photography. 

Chris Bray Photography offers a variety of classes (some are free), tips, tutorials, and books.

MASTER CLASS is a prominent site filled with courses on various topics taught by some of the top industry professionals in their fields. 

Annie Liebovitz Teaches Photography, one of the top photographers in the world, "teaches you her philosophy: how to develop concepts, work with subjects, shoot with natural light, and bring images to life in post-production. See the world through her eyes."

Jimmy Chin Teaches Adventure Photography "learn different creative approaches for commercial shoots, editorial spreads, and passion projects."

Stanford University Lecture on Digital Photography 18 videos in all by Stanford professor Marc Levoy. 

Cambridge in Colour, a Learning Community for Photographers, contains a lot of free material - everything from the very basics of digital photography to more advanced tutorials.

GREAT COURSES PLUS is a well-known online learning source. They offer a plethora of courses, including ones taught by National Geographic photographers.

The Art of Travel Photography on Great Courses gets into the details of shooting advanced travel images. 

National Geographic Masters of Photography takes you "inside the creative process of 12 National Geographic photographers and gain insights into how to approach your own images and improve your photographs." 

Fundamentals of Photography gives you "an in-depth and highly interactive tutorial on how to take better photographs in this thorough course taught by an award-winning National Geographic photographer."

The National Geographic Guide to Landscape and Wildlife Photography National Geographic photographers Michael Melford and Tim Laman reveal their stories and secrets about what makes for amazing landscape and wildlife photography.

In sum, do your research before you pay for a photography class. Make sure you ask plenty of questions and that you're comfortable with the answers. There is no shortage of photography courses available, so if you're not 100% satisfied before you register for a class, walk away and find another.