Photography courses that will help you find your niche

If you are interested in art, celebrity, fashion, beauty, nude and advertising photography, Albert Watson's Masters of Photography course is a must-do. Having shot over 200 covers for Vogue and Rolling Stone magazine in his over 40+ years of being a photographer, Albert uses his industry experience to teach key techniques to create successful portraits, landscapes and still life photographs. Over 954k have watched the lessons with raving five-star reviews. You not only get to learn about his first-hand process, but how he controls his lighting straight from the studio. Student Bryan Timmons says, "A great opportunity to learn from a true master; you get a real insight into Albert's creative thought process. He is an artist of light and he is able to draw magic from his subjects with a very subtle approach." Meanwhile, Pierre Repond says, "A huge photographer, a great person. Albert Watson is an infinite source of inspiration as a human being and, of course, as one of the world's leading photographer artists." You have two options; a Discovery Class for £40 (10 lessons over 1.5 hours) or a Masterclass for £130 (54 lessons over 6.5 hours).

The 'Street Photography: Capture the Life of Your City' by VSCO and Trashhand, a Cityscape Photographer and one of Skillshare's most popular teachers, is a great intermediate course for anyone with a passion for injecting charisma into their street photography. Sharing some of his favourite photography techniques, Trashhand takes you through the streets of Chicago covering all the topics; capturing authentic candids, utilizing blur to convey motion, finding compelling angles for "look-up" shots and applying these techniques at night. What I love about this course is its authenticity and how you could become just as successful using those simple techniques. All it takes is a lot of practice, the right kind of practice and to position yourself in a way that wins you those commissioned gigs with brands you admire. With over 36k students and raving reviews, this course is worth the investment. For 16 lessons altogether (roughly over an hour to complete), you can either do it free in the first 14 day trial or it will cost you a premium membership of $19 per month or $99 per year.

Another great Masters of Photography course to do is by Joel Meyerowitz. Being a legend at street photography and a pioneer of colour art photography, Joel shares his unique philosophy and techniques used in his extensive career behind the lens. If you need some passion and inspiration on your lockdown walks, the 34-lesson masterclass will only take you five hours to complete at £130 or just over one hour for £40 if you choose to do the eight-lesson Discovery class. With over 955k lessons watched, this course aims to teach you how to develop your photographic eye and boost your identity as a photographer. Whether it's composition, exposure, observation and finding subjects that interests you, Joel will teach you how he combines these elements and everything he believes is useful to know. All you need to do is open your screen and follow Joel as he walks the streets and improves your artistic vision. Student Bryan Timmons says, "You get to meet one of photography's greatest and charming ambassadors; and walk with him as he presents his philosophy and approach to his craft. It's like a one-to=one masterclass at a fraction of the price."

One last highly recommended Masters of Photography class is by Environmental Portrait Photographer, Steve McCurry – the man behind the 1984 National Geographic photographic cover portrait of the Afghan Girl, Sharbat Gula. Learn how to transform your images, like this one, into an iconic voice in contemporary photography and learn to take not a photo but a story. His 25-lesson Masterclass (£130) takes four hours to complete, or you can do his six-lesson Discovery Class (£40) which will take roughly an hour to complete. Follow Steve on the streets of Cuba and Portugal as you comfortably watch from home and learn how exactly he creates images of the world around him. Not only will you pick-up on techniques you can apply to your own lockdown photography, but also build on your skillset with various lighting conditions (while outside and in nature), composition and so much more. Personally, I have always been so impressed with how Steve can capture humans with so much emotion and authenticity. Anthony Neill says, "These masterclass courses aren't cheap, but what can be learnt through them, from masters such as Steve McCurry could improve your eye and your photography over-night."

Masterclass has another sensational portrait photography course by Annie Leibovitz. Costing £14.17 per month (billed annually), the course is worth every penny of that membership. Being the first woman to be named chief photographer at Rolling Stone and the last person to take a portrait of John Lennon, Annie demonstrates how no matter what equipment or technology you might have, it's the story that counts. In 15 video lessons taking roughly three hours to complete, you learn her philosophy; how to develop concepts, work with subjects, shoot with natural light and bring those images to life in post-production. Even though there are no reviews available to the public, it's a credible, world renowned course and one that can be applied to your daily portraiture work and beyond. Even Annie admits that the reason she got to where she is today is simply by photographing the people close to her, while also incorporating the complexity of history, culture and the society that we live in. This advice could be exactly what is needed to launch your next steps in Portrait Photography.

Since portrait photography is such a popular topic, Creativelive is running an online course with Lindsay Adler, a fashion photographer based in New York City. The aim of her course is to teach simply just how you can take stunning portraits, an excellent skill to have when we as humans love to reflect on ourselves and cherish the people around us. Whether you simply want to take better portraits or want to build your business's portrait portfolio, this course will cover everything from camera settings, accessories, lighting, posing and directing. It will provide you with the foundation of all styles in Portrait Photography and all the essential elements. As well as, the importance to work with what you've got and still get the results. With 83k students, 20 video lessons (13 hours of class content), you could do Lindsay's course for $89 (reduced from $149) or pay $13 per month to complete the course and unlock many more.

If you love the look of wildlife photography and want to prepare yourself for post-lockdown or simply improve your skills in the nearby park, best-selling fine-art photographer, David Yarrow, has a great course available on the Masters of Photography website. With over 951k lessons watched, you can either do the Masterclass for £130 (58 lessons over 7.5 hours) or the Discovery Class for £40 (10 lessons over 1 hour). Not only will you learn just how relentless you need to be to stretch boundaries in nature and achieve excellence but you will be taking a virtual trip around the world and witness first-hand the principles behind his work and how to become a better photographer. If there's any wildlife course, it should be this one. Why? I don't know many other photographers who get up, close and personal with dangerous wildlife using remote-controlled cameras to capture exactly what you set out to do. He teaches you two main principles; compositional tightness and eye contact – eyes being the "windows of the soul" – and demonstrates how to put it all into action. If finding a new perspective and that signature angle, then this is the course for you.

If Adventure Photography is something you want to get into, Jimmy Chin's course on Masterclass is definitely one to do. Costing £14.17 per month (billed annually), the course covers everything from learning about different creative approaches to commercial shoots, editorial spreads and passion projects to the techniques needed when on location. Earning a cover of National Geographic, Jimmy gives you the top tips on gear and perspective and being able to combine them both to bring photography to new heights. He even goes into his preferred settings and how he got to the top. In just 20 classes roughly taking four hours to complete, this course might just give you the much-needed fuel and ambition to last you through lockdown. As Jimmy says, "photography is bigger than just images. It's bigger than a career. It's a process of discovery, both external and internal." Enter his world and learn how he breakdowns the whole process.

If you're still unsure what speciality to go into, Newborn Photography would be a rewarding one to consider. And, Creativelive has made it that much easier. Kelly Brown, a portrait photographer with a speciality in newborn and baby portraiture, launched her own business, Little Pieces of Photography, in 2005 and knows exactly what it takes to be successful at it. With more than 50,000 students and 22 hours of video class content, this course has been heavily reduced from $199 to just $29. You can also pay $13 per month and unlock other classes if you wish. Not only will you be able to pose newborns including siblings and parents by the end of it, you will also know how to make your own home studio including prop essentials and learn how to turn it into a sustainable business. Dealing with newborns isn't as straight-forward as you think, so Kelly shares all her useful techniques (e.g. getting the baby asleep) to get you feeling confident and improve the efficiency of the shoot. From the creative planning process to post-production, Kelly has it all sorted.