How I Became an Award-Winning Photographer for Under $150

How I Became an Award-Winning Photographer for Under $150

I’m going to start this post with something that may surprise you:

I became an award-winning photographer largely by taking a handful of very inexpensive online courses.

Over the past few years, my photography has won and been shortlisted for a number of international photography awards; it’s also been exhibited internationally and published in art magazines.

(You can see some of my awards, exhibitions and publications on my About page).

And yet, I don’t have a degree in photography, nor did I spend $20k-$30k on a prestigious photography course.

In fact, the education that had the biggest impact on my photography probably cost me under $150 in total.

Now, there’s one caveat: I did complete a one-year photography diploma when I first became serious about photography, which cost a few hundred dollars at the time.

However, most of what I learned there was photography fundamentals: the exposure triangle, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, basic lighting, how to use a camera manually and so on.

These are all useful things to know, but I could have very easily learned these essentials from a good photography book or free YouTube tutorials.

What actually took my work from “I know how to use a camera” to “I know how to create the photographs I want to create” came later:

From Domestika or CreativeLive courses that I bought for around $10–20 each during their frequent sales.

So, if you are an aspiring fine-art or portrait photographer who thinks you need an expensive photography degree before you can create professional work, I highly recommend you keep reading to discover the courses that made me an award-winning photographer.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase something through one of my links, at no extra cost to you. I only recommend courses I have personally taken and genuinely found useful.

1. Fine Art Photography: Self-Portraits Filled with Symbolism – Lídia Vives

If I could recommend only one course on this entire list, it would probably be this one.

I took the course Fine Art Photography: Self-Portraits Filled with Symbolism relatively early in my journey, and I truly think it changed the trajectory of my photography.

The course by award-winning photographer Lídia Vives follows the entire process of creating an artistic self-portrait, from finding references and developing a mood board to sourcing props, posing, lighting, shooting and finally editing the photograph.

I really loved learning more about Lídia’s approach to photography, especially because she taught me to be thorough.

Before I took her course, I think I had approached editing photographs slightly like this:

“Hmm. That looks quite nice. Done!”

However, watching her meticulously work through an image and pay attention to tiny details made me realise how much of a difference that final 10% can make.

One of my self portraits where I used Lídia’s retouching and colour grading techniques.

The post-production section alone covers RAW development, image cleaning, skin retouching, colour and contrast, Liquify, sharpening, texture, and preparing the finished photograph.

Some of the Photoshop workflow is a little dated now, simply because Photoshop has changed enormously since the course was made. 

But I don’t think that really matters, because Lídia teaches you not just particular technical things, but to approach every photo shoot with a huge level of care.

After taking her course, I started looking at my images differently, asking myself questions like:

• Is that crease distracting?
• Is that object in exactly the right place? 
• Does the colour palette work?
• Is the pose intentional? 
• Does everything inside the frame contribute to the photograph?

It showed me what creating a polished fine-art photograph actually involved, and I think this was the course that first pushed my work towards the elevated level I had been trying to reach.

Best for: Fine-art photographers, self-portrait photographers and anyone who wants to understand the complete process behind creating pro-level, conceptual imagery.

TAKE THE COURSE

2. Introduction to Conceptual Portrait Photography – Kristina Varaksina

This is another course that had a massive impact on my work.

Kristina Varaksina is an editorial and fine-art portrait photographer, and there is something incredibly polished about the way she constructs images.

The course begins long before the actual photoshoot:

You learn how to choose a subject, develop ideas and translate words and concepts into visual imagery before moving into art direction, lighting, clothing, posing and the shoot itself.

That process really helped me understand the difference between simply having an idea for a photograph and developing a visual concept.

It also hugely improved my eye for posing:

Posing is one of those things that can be surprisingly difficult to learn because there isn’t necessarily one obviously “correct” pose. A tiny change in the position of a hand, shoulder or head can suddenly make an image feel much more sophisticated.

Watching a professional portrait photographer make those decisions was incredibly useful.

The pose and colour palette in this self-portrait are inspired by Kristina’s Domestika course.

The other thing I took from this course was that slightly slick, editorial quality that professional portraits often have.

There is a level of intentionality in Kristina’s styling, lighting, posing, and compositional choices that makes the resulting photographs look like something you might actually see in a magazine rather than simply technically competent portraits.

And that’s probably what I loved most about this course: it taught me how to art-direct my photographs, rather than simply take them.

Best for: Portrait and self-portrait photographers who want to create more sophisticated concepts, improve their posing and give their photographs a professional editorial feel.

TAKE THE COURSE

3. Fine Art Retouching in Photoshop – Alisa Sibirskaya

If you want to create surreal, painterly or fantasy-inspired photography, you HAVE to take this course.

I’ve watched a LOT of Photoshop tutorials over the years, and I haven’t found many that teach this particular style of advanced fine-art retouching at this level.

This isn’t a “how to adjust exposure and remove a spot” Photoshop course.

Instead, it gets into techniques such as double development, image reconstruction, frequency separation, working with people and objects, manipulating light, creating shadows and building more complex fine-art compositions.

Basically, the sort of techniques you need when the image you want to create doesn’t actually exist in front of the camera.

This is something that became increasingly important to me as my photography developed:

I don’t necessarily want my camera to document exactly what is there; instead, I usually want to create a vision I can see in my mind’s eye.

And sometimes, what I see simply can’t really be created in-camera, like in this self-portrait:

For those kinds of images, Photoshop stops being software you use to “fix” photographs and becomes another artistic medium – a way of building the image you originally imagined.

This course really helped me learn how to do that. It is particularly useful if you’re interested in compositing, because it addresses one of the biggest challenges: making all the different elements look as though they actually belong in the same image.

Best for: Fine-art photographers who want to create composites, surreal imagery, fantasy photography or more elaborate painterly edits.

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4. Hybrid Photography for Creative Experimentation – Danny Bittencourt

This one is slightly more left field, which is exactly why I’m including it.

I think one of the problems with photography courses is that you reach a kind of ceiling… eventually, you know how to expose a photograph, how to focus, how to do basic edits, etc.

So then, the next logical step is to set your photos apart from other people’s work – which is why I love Danny Bittencourt’s Hybrid Photography for Creative Experimentation.

The course introduces the idea of combining photography with physical processes.

It covers developing a concept and mood board, creating the base photograph, printing it, and then physically altering it using techniques such as salt, watercolour, perforation, light, water, or fire before re-photographing the finished piece.

I really loved exploring these techniques because learning about them gave me so many new ideas and avenues to pursue, e.g. using ice like in this self-portrait:

Instead of thinking, “How can I do this in Photoshop?” I started thinking, “What weird thing could I physically do to this photograph?”

Courses like this can help you find unusual solutions to creative problems – and, more importantly, discover techniques that not everybody else is using, making your photographs much more interesting.

Best for: Photographers who already understand the basics and want to become more experimental or incorporate mixed-media techniques into their work.

TAKE THE COURSE

5. Creating a Fine Art Series – Brooke Shaden

This is the one course on this list that isn’t from Domestika, but I couldn’t leave it out because there is a point where you need to stop thinking in terms of individual photographs and have to start creating a series.

That’s because if you want to exhibit your work, approach publications, build an artist portfolio or generally be taken seriously as a fine-art photographer, people will usually want to see a cohesive body of work.

Brooke Shaden’s CreativeLive class, Creating a Fine Art Series, looks at exactly how you can create that.

She covers conceptualising a series, storytelling, emotion and connection, creating photographs on a limited budget, editing images so that they work cohesively, and even thinking about branding and selling the resulting body of work.

Creating a series is something I’ve become increasingly interested in as my own work has developed.

Essentially, a single great photograph can win a competition; a coherent body of work begins to show people who you are as an artist.

Best for: Fine-art photographers who want to create exhibitions, submit work for publication, build a stronger portfolio or move from creating individual images to complete projects.

Note: This course used to be much cheaper, which is why I’m counting it as part of my budget photography education! Since I took it, CreativeLive has been through quite a few changes: The platform was actually due to shut down at the end of 2025 before being acquired by CourseHorse at the last minute and relaunched. Unfortunately, its courses are now considerably more expensive, so this particular recommendation no longer fits quite as neatly into my $100 premise.

TAKE THE COURSE

6. Photography and Darkness: Create Cinematic Portraits – Louis Dazy

This is probably one of the less “meaty” courses on this list in terms of sheer technical information.

But I’m including it because it changed the way I think about something much more difficult to teach, which is atmosphere.

Louis Dazy’s work is heavily influenced by cinema, and the course explores cinematic photography, image theory, colour theory, art direction, low-light photography and editing.

He also talks about his cinematic influences and how he builds a visual universe around his photographs, which I found fascinating.

I think that photography education can become very preoccupied with equipment and settings, like the right lens, what aperture or shutter speed to use, etc. 

But those things aren’t necessarily what makes me love a photograph; sometimes, it’s more the feeling that the image is part of a larger narrative, like a still from a movie.

Louis Dazy’s course helped me think much more consciously about narrative, atmosphere and cinematic references in my own work.

Here’s a more cinematic portrait I captured after taking his course:

It won’t teach you lots of new Photoshop techniques, but you might start seeing photographs differently, which might sometimes be much more valuable.

Best for: Photographers interested in storytelling, cinematic photography, low-light portraits, colour and creating a stronger sense of atmosphere.

TAKE THE COURSE

7. Business Plan for Creatives: Build Your Brand and Career – Lizzie Snow

And finally, the course that doesn’t really have anything to do with photography…but possibly quite a lot with becoming an award-winning photographer, because at some point, you have to actually send your work somewhere.

Lizzie Snow’s Business Plan for Creatives looks at the practical side of building a career as an artist: different types of art careers, defining your goals and vision, understanding your identity as an artist and developing a sustainable creative business.

For me, this helped with something I think a lot of self-taught photographers struggle with, which is taking myself seriously.

Unfortunately, there is no special ceremony where somebody taps you on the shoulder and announces: “Congratulations. You are now a proper photographer.”

At some point you simply have to start behaving like one, eg., by building a website, writing your artist bio, entering competitions, submitting to exhibitions, etc.

This course helped me think of my photography as a real creative career rather than simply something I loved doing.

And ironically, that probably contributed to those photography awards just as much as learning another lighting technique might have.

Best for: Photographers and artists who have developed their creative skills but don’t know how to turn their work into an actual professional identity or career.

TAKE THE COURSE

So… Can You Really Become an Award-Winning Photographer for Under $150?

Obviously, buying seven online courses will not magically make somebody an award-winning photographer – you still have to do the work:

You have to take hundreds, if not thousands of photographs; you have to develop ideas that don’t work; and you have to learn to recognise why they don’t work and try again.

Also, I want to add that photography awards themselves aren’t the be-all and end-all:

Winning an award doesn’t suddenly make somebody a better photographer than somebody who hasn’t.

But I do think there is a misconception that becoming a professional artist requires an enormous financial investment in education.

My experience has been almost the opposite:

The expensive photography education I did at the beginning taught me the technical foundations; the relatively cheap courses I took afterwards taught me how photographers I admired actually thought and worked.

In fact, they probably taught me more about becoming the photographer I am today than any single expensive photography qualification could have done.

And because Domestika courses are frequently discounted, I bought most of mine VERY cheaply. Their prices change all the time, so your total may be different from mine, but you definitely don’t need to spend thousands.

So, here’s my recommendation:

If you’re starting from scratch, learn your exposure triangle, how light works, etc somewhere free and accessible, like YouTube.

And then, instead of trying to learn everything about photography, start learning the specific skills required to create the photographs you wish you could make…and maybe, very soon, that first award has your name on it!

P.S.: Do you love taking portraits? Then check out my free ebook with 50 portrait photography ideas: