Let’s be honest, there are so many photography related websites that it is nearly impossible to create an all encompassing list. Instead we’ve created a list featuring different types of websites. We’ve done our best to give examples of each category using the most popular sites, or ones that we have had good experience with. While many of these websites could have been placed in multiple categories, we’ve organized them so that they are only listed once.

The 29 categories are listed in alphabetical order.

Accesories – If you’re looking for bags, tripods, dollys, filters, custom camera straps or flash diffusers, the following links are a great place to start.

Lowepro	Tamrac	ThinkTankPhoto
Manfrotto	DynamicPerception	HoyaFilter
Tiffen	Cokin	HighKeyCamera
PhatStraps	GaryFong

Blogging Platforms - If you are looking to create a customized website, or if you plan on constantly updating your website with photographs and text, then creating a blog is probably the best way to go. We use WordPress for this site and have found it very easy to use. Blogger is a great alternative. Tumblr, while newer than the other platforms, has seen incredible growth recently.

WordPress	Blogger	Tumblr

Blogs – The following blogs will keep you up to date with all that’s going on in the world of photography. You may even learn a thing or two along the way.

PetaPixel	Pixiq	FStoppers
PhotographyBay	DIYPhotography	StuckInCustoms

Brick and Mortar Stores – If you want to look at equipment in person before purchasing, then you have many options. B&H and Adorama are great choices if you are in the New York area, while Vistek, Henry’s and TheCameraStore are listed for our Canadian friends.

B&H	Adorama	Vistek
Henry’s	TheCameraStore

Camera & Lens Manufacturers – Below we have listed the most popular camera and lens manufacturers.

Canon	Sony	Nikon
Samsung	Panasonic	Olympus
FujiFilm	Casio	Pentax
Leica	Sigma	GoPro
Contour	Lensbaby

Communities – The following communities were created for people with common interests. NAAP was created for people who are interested in improving their Photoshop skills. Planet5D is geared towards Canon users, while Nikonians caters Nikon users. As the name suggests, APOD has a different astronomy photograph every day, and 360Cities features beautiful panoramic photographs from all over the world.

NAAP	Planet5D	Nikonians
APOD	360cities

Contests – While there are other places that offer similar services, the following websites are dedicated to online photography contests. Both PWOContests and DPChallenge have weekly contests and allow you to register for free. PhotographyCorner offers real prizes, which means the contests are less frequent. Worth1000 emphasizes photo manipulation. Photos2Win is an example of a contest site where you pay to enter each contests and where the top photos share the winnings.

PWOContests	DPChallenge	PhotographyCorner
Worth1000	Photos2Win

Crowdfunding  – Crowdfunding is when a large group of people agree to fund a project if it meets it’s fundraising goal. It’s also a great way to purchase new photography accessories, often at a price lower than the final MSRP. The projects on Kickstarter seem to garner a lot of attention, but there are other sites such as IndieGoGo which are just as good.

Kickstarter	IndieGoGo

Editorials – The following media websites have wonderful photo editorials.

BostonGlobe	TheAtlantic	LATimesPhotography

Educational Resources – If you are looking to learn about photography, then you might want to look into some of the following resources.

BetterPhoto	Strobist	LuminousLandscape
NYIP	DigitalPhotographySchool	PSDTutsPlus

Events/Conferences – While we’re sure there are many more photography related events and conferences, here are a few that spring to mind. The WorldWidePhotoWalk is an annual event that gets people out shooting within their community. WPPI is a conference specializing in wedding photography. PixelHackDay is an event where programmers and photographers get together to create interesting projects.

WorldWidePhotoWalk	WPPI	PixelHackDay

Gallery/Portfolio Creation – If you want to set up a slick portfolio without having to build it from scratch, then you will want to look into the following websites. While most will allow you to sell prints, 500px, SmugMug and Photoshelter allow you to customize your portfolio. In most cases, you will need to pay a yearly fee to use their services. 1x works a little differently in that your photographs are jurried, and only the best photographs are accepted on the site. As well as providing portfolios, Photo.Net offers a wide variety of benefits.

500px	SmugMug	1x
PhotoShelter	DeviantArt	Photo.net

Group Buy – When products are sold in bulk, you get a discounted price. While Groupon and Woot are not photography specific, there are some great photography deals to be had. PhotoWhoa, while relatively new, is similar to to Groupon except that it only has photography related products and services for sale.

Groupon	Woot	PhotoWhoa

Humor – If it’s fun you are looking for, here are a few starting points. WhatTheDuck is the great photography related comic strip. PSDisasters takes pleasure in point out editing mistakes that have been published in the media. And while ProductionFail has yet to set up a website, their tweets are definitely worth looking into.

WhatTheDuck	PSDisasters	ProductionFail

Image Hosting  - If you are simply looking for somewhere to host your photographs online, then have a gander at the following links. While flickr is probably the most popular, we’ve listed some other options. TweetPic is an example of a service that allows you to share images via twitter. Imgur allows you to post photographs so that they can be linked on other websites.

flickr	Picasa	PBase
PhotoBucket	TweetPic	Imgur

Law & Copyright – There are many resources to help you protect your photographs and your equipment. ImageRights will help you if any of your photographs have been infringed upon. GadgetTrack is a service which you can sign up for in an effort to return lost or stolen equipment to it’s rightful owner. IFoundYourCamera and StolenCameraFinder are services which aim to help you find lost or stolen equipment. TinEye and GoogleSearchByImage allow you to find out if your images are being used on other websites by matching them with your photographs.

ImageRights	GadgetTrack	IFoundYourCamera
StolenCameraFinder	TinEye	GoogleSearchByImage

Magazines – Photography magazines are a great source for inspiration, knowledge and photography contests. We’ve listed some of the more popular magazines below. While NationalGeographic isn’t a photography specific magazine, we feel it belongs on the list nonetheless.

PopPhoto	OutdoorPhotographer	PhotoLife
BJP	PhotoDistrictNews	AmateurPhotographer
AmericanPhoto	PhotographyMonthly	NationalGeographic

Online Shopping – If you enjoy shopping without leaving the comfort of your home, then look no further. Amazon, Ebay and DigitalRev are great places to purchase photography equipment online. Photojojo has all sorts of interesting photography gadgets while Lomography focuses on traditional film cameras.

Amazon	eBay	Photojojo
DigitalRev	Lomography

Online Storage – If you want to backup your photographs online, or transfer large files to a client, then you can look into the following services. While DropBox has traditionally been the most popular option, we would definitely recommend SugarSync. If you would like to sync photos and other information between your apple devices, then iCloud is the way to go.

SugarSync	DropBox	iCloud

Prints & Merchandising - While many photography communities offer the ability to sell your prints, here are some stand alone options. SnapFish is one of the highest rated print services in terms of customer satisfaction. Blurb allows you to create beautiful custom photo books and ebooks. CanvasOnDemand is a great place to print your photographs as large prints. We’ve been pleased with VistaPrint for customized items such as business cards, thank you notes and calendars. CafePress, Zazzle and RedBubble allow you to customize almost any type of merchandise you can think of. Are you feeling inspired yet?

SnapFish	Blurb	CanvasOnDemand
VistaPrint	CafePress	Zazzle
RedBubble

Promotional Tools – In addition to participating in photography communities, you will need to promote yourself if you want to be a successful photographer. Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are the top social media traffic drivers for this site. Photozz is a directory of all the latest and greatest photography posts on the web and will certainly drive extra traffic to your website. Pinterest has exploded in recent months and could prove useful in marketing yourself. WeFollow is a twitter directory which will help people with similar interests find you. Last but not least, if you are really committed to growing brand awareness, Google Adwords or Facebook Ads are worth looking into.

Facebook	Twitter	Google+
LinkedIn	Pinterest	WeFollow
AdWords	Photozz

Resources – ModelMayhem is a great place to meet photographers, models and make up artists. UrbanExplorerResource is a database of abandoned buildings all over the world. Panoramio shows you photographs that were taken in specific locations and therefore is a great way to find interesting subjects in your area.

ModelMayhem	UrbanExplorerResource	Panoramio

Reviews and News – You would have a hard time arguing that DPReview isn’t the best digital camera review site on the web. If you are looking for information on upcoming cameras, then the following rumor sites will keep you up to date. While we’ve tried to avoid adding individual photographer’s websites to this list, Ken Rockwell and Rob Galbraith have spent many years reviewing photography equipment. KenRockwell has some fairly intensive camera and lens reviews on his website while RobGalbraith focuses more on photographic accessories.

DPReview	CanonRumors	NikonRumors
PhotoRumors	43Rumors	SonyAlphaRumors
MirrorlessRumors	KenRockwell	RobGalbraith

Software & Plugins – Here are some of our favourite photo editing programs and plugins. PhotoMatix is our preferred HDR editing software, while NoiseNinja is awesome at removing noise in photographs. While Topaz Labs offers many plugins, TopazAdjust is great at changing the look and feel of a photograph in a matter of seconds.

PhotoShop	LightRoom	Premiere
PhotoMatix	TopazAdjust	NoiseNinja
FinalCutProX

Stock Photography – There are many stock photography sites out there. Whether you want to start selling your photographs, or need to purchase some images, here are some of the most popular options.

Alamy	GettyImages	iStockPhoto
ShutterStock	Dreamstime	Fotolia
BigStockPhoto	123RF

Tools – There are a number of tools available for photographers online. CameraSim allows you to virtually adjust camera settings to see how it affects the outcome of a photograph. CameraSize allows you to compare the physical size of digital cameras. LightingDiagrams allows you to create top down lighting setups that you can share with others. MyShutterCount allows you to upload an image to determine how many photographs you have taken with your camera. Simalarily, ShutterLifeExpectancy is a database that let’s you see how many shutter actuations other photographers have taken, as well as whether or not their camera is still operational. Decide helps you determine when it’s a good time to purchase electronics based on price trends as well as whether or not there is a next generation device upcoming.

CameraSim	CameraSize	LightingDiagrams
MyShutterCount	ShutterLifeExpectancy	Decide

Video Hosting – These are, hands down, the best two sites for video hosting. There are a lot of tutorials, podcasts and behind the scenes videos on YouTube, while Vimeo tends to focus on fully realized films.

YouTube	Vimeo

Webhosting – If you decide to use WordPress, or have your own custom website, you will need a webhosting provider. We use BlueHost for our contest site and have no complaints so far.

Update: We have removed both HostMDS and GoDaddy from our list. We do not recommend either of them.

BlueHost

Other – The following websites are not necessarily geared towards photography, but I would still consider them good photographic resources.

Wikipedia	Reddit	StumbleUpon

So… how did we do? Let us know if there are any categories or websites which you think should be on the list.

Disclaimer: PWOContests, which is listed under the Contests section, is run by PhotoWeeklyOnline Inc. Also, both the Amazon and B&H thumbnails/text have affiliate links. In other words, if you follow those links and you make a purchase, PhotoWeeklyOnline will get a small percentage of the sale (usually 2-5%) at no extra cost to you.