Abstract Quantum physics has revolutionized our understanding of information processing and enables computational speed-ups that are unattainable using classical computers. This tutorial reviews the fundamental tools of photonic quantum information processing. The basics of theoretical quantum computing are presented and the quantum circuit model as well as measurement-based models of quantum computing are introduced. Furthermore, it is shown how these concepts can be implemented experimentally using photonic qubits, where information is encoded in the photons’ polarization.