11 best YouTube channels for improving your photography editing during lockdown

by Alex W.

With most of us stuck at home for at least a few more weeks, what better time than now to brush up on those photography editing and post-processing skills?

Maybe you’ve tried some of our creative photography ideas and want to learn a new editing technique to complement it.

Or maybe you just want to work through some of your back catalog and see if you can improve on some of your favorite images.

Whatever your reasons, there’s no better way of improving your photography editing than YouTube. In fact, I learned all of my post-processing through YouTube and experimentation, and I’ve barely even scratched the tip of the iceberg.

Now, generally speaking I’m more a reader than a watcher but when it comes to advanced photography editing and post-processing there’s no comparison.

Video wins every time.

But with millions upon millions of videos on YouTube, where do you even start? Right here, of course, with this comprehensive list of some of the best channels for learning photography editing.

Want to stick around on Click and Learn Photography? Check out our post-processing guides below:

1. Phlearn

Without a doubt (in my opinion), the number one place to go if you want to learn Adobe Photoshop. Not only are they educational, but the videos are so engaging and entertaining that the time flies by,

I’ve spent countless hours binge watching Phlearn tutorials and trying to wrap my tiny brain around some of the things they create in Photoshop. They have tutorials for every level of expertise and across a wide range of photography genres.

Their Beginner’s Guide to Photoshop series is just a part of their catalog, and even following along with that will get you to a level of editing that most photographers can only dream of!

2. Fstoppers

The Fstoppers YouTube channel isn’t an editing-specific channel (like many on this list), but their collection does include a bunch of really helpful editing tutorials on both Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.

Or, if you have a bit of spare cash, I can highly recommend their Photographing the World courses. Elia Locardi and team not only inspire wanderlust with their on-scene segments, but about half of each tutorials is set aside for a detailed editing walkthrough. There’s a bunch of teaser videos on their BTS Playlist so you can get a taste of it before buying.

3. CreativeLive

CreativeLive offer some of the most popular photography courses on the market, but thankfully their YouTube channel is completely free! They provide a range of excellent tutorials and, while relatively basic, their editing videos are very well produced and informative for those with less advanced editing skills.

Their Photoshop Quick Tips playlist, in particular, is excellent for quick upgrades to your editing game when you don’t feel like investing an hour in an in depth tutorial.

4. Jessica Kobeissi

If you’re more into portraiture or fashion photography, Jessica Kobeissi’s channel is up there with the best. Aside from her insightful and educational Editing and Retouching Tutorials playlist, Jessia has a bunch of other videos covering other aspects of portrait photography.

Jessica is one of the most popular portrait / fashion photographers on YouTube right now, boasting over 1.5 million subscribers thanks to her engaging and informative content and fantastic production quality.

5. Peter McKinnon

Peter McKinnon has almost 5 million subscribers. You don’t get 5 million subscribers without doing something right.

And fortunately for us, Peter is doing plenty of things right. His channel is full of inspiration, cinematic B-roll and is generally just very, very well produced. All of that is beside the point though – we’re talking about post-processing here.

He has plenty of that content too, with a bunch of insightful Adobe Lightroom tutorials and tips, including the great starting point below.

6. SLR Lounge

SLR Lounge is up there with the best as far as all-round photography channels are concerned, but we’ll stick to the subject at hand. They have a massive array of Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop videos, including straight up tutorials as well as their great Lightroom Weekly Edits playlist.

They have literally hundreds of post processing videos to choose from, so find a starting point and dig right in!

7. Jamie Windsor

Another lone ranger with fantastic production quality here, but it’s the editing we’re interested in (although his vlogs are top notch as well).

Jamie Windsor covers a bunch of tips and tricks across both Lightroom and Photoshop, my favorite of which is below. Admittedly he’s not one of the most prolific purveyors of editing tutorials, but there’s almost two hours of post-processing content in his Tutorials playlist and his most recent two detail almost 50 Photoshop tricks and hacks!

8 and 9. Adobe Photoshop / Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

Straight from the horse’s mouth right here.

The vast majority of the photography world uses either (or both) Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop for the bulk of their editing needs, and each program has its very own YouTube channel filled to the brim with handy tutorials from some of Adobe’s trusted partners.

Between them, these two channels cover everything from importing your first photos into Lightroom to creating stunning works of digital art in Photoshop. Be warned though – you could lose hours binge-watching these.

10. PiXimperfect

PiXimperfect is a YouTube channel created by Unmesh Dinda that boasts over 2 million subscribers. And the best thing? It’s all about Photoshop and Lightroom.

Hundreds of videos covering everything from the absolute basics to some truly advanced stuff. Find yourself a bit short of time? Check out his 1-Minute Photoshop playlist – that’s 42 videos, all just a minute long and each one teaching you a new Photoshop technique to add to your arsenal. Genius.

11. photoshopCAFE

Another YouTube channel dedicated to Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom tutorials and techniques. Created by Colin Smith and his friends, photoshopCAFE’s videos cover everything from basic tutorials to quick Photoshop tips to special effects techniques.

My personal favorite is the Photoshop Effects and Tips playlist which, as you probably guessed, includes tutorials for very specific techniques you can use in your photography editing.