Photography
Lessons in Lisbon
One-to-one lessons with a working photographer: in Lisbon, on real locations and real shoots, or online from wherever you are.
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These are private photography lessons: one student, one teacher. There is no fixed course. We start from what you already know, what you shoot and what you want to get out of it, and build the programme around that.
You can learn the camera and composition, editing and retouching, or the business side: how to build a portfolio that sells, set a price and talk to clients. I have been a professional photographer since 2007, and the lessons are built on my own work here in Lisbon.
In Lisbon we can meet in person and practise in the city. From anywhere else, we work online over Zoom or any other video call.
Photography Lessons in Lisbon or online
In person in Lisbon
We meet in Lisbon, talk through your goals and plan the lessons face to face. Lessons can move outdoors: the streets, the viewpoints and light that changes by the hour make a ready-made place to practise. In person is also the only format where we can practise together, on a training shoot or a real one.
Online
Over Zoom or any app that gives us a video call on your computer. There is no joint practice, but we can review your photographs, edit together on a shared screen and go through any topic in theory. Online lessons cost half the in-person price.
Programme built around your goals
You choose the topics. At a free first meeting we talk about your experience and what you are after, and I put a plan together from that. Here is what we can cover:
Photography
- The technical side of a shot: exposure, focus, light
- Composition and the psychology of a frame
- Portfolio review
- Your equipment: review and recommendations
- Organising a shoot from start to finish
- Colour correction
- In-depth retouching
- Working with people: helping a client relax in front of the camera
Photo business
- Starting a photo business, or a photo school of your own
- A portfolio that sells your services
- Presenting yourself on social media and on your website
- Promoting yourself online
- Setting the price of a shoot and getting it
- Explaining your price to a client
- Packages: selling more in one order
- Talking to clients on the phone, in messengers and in person
- Handing finished work over to the client
Practice on real shoots in Lisbon
If you are in Lisbon or nearby, part of the lessons can be practice. There are 3 formats, and each has its pros and cons.
A training shoot
We find a model, and it can be anyone, to show in practice the techniques, the typical mistakes and how to fix them. I stay next to you and the model and comment on every detail: why a shot works better one way, what belongs in the frame and what does not, which pose suits the model, camera settings and lenses, and how to help a person relax.
Your shoot, with me as your assistant
You have a client shoot, and I come as your assistant: I carry the bag, change lenses and do the heavy lifting. I do not shoot myself. I direct: I comment on what is happening, suggest what to do next and explain why. Of the 3 formats this one teaches the most, because learning is about understanding the logic behind each decision.
My shoot, with you as second photographer
You come to my commercial shoot as an assistant and second photographer. Beginners often prefer this one: real people, nothing staged. The catch is that on a client shoot the client comes first, and most of the time I will not be able to explain my decisions as I make them. You will see the result, and how I work with a real client.
More detail about learning photography
If you want more detail, I wrote about the lesson formats and the 3 ways to practise on a real shoot in the blog.
Prices for photography lessons
Trial lesson
Your first lesson, to see whether the way I teach suits you.
1 lesson
Up to 1.5 hours
5 lessons
Up to 1.5 hours each, no time limit
10 lessons
Up to 1.5 hours each, no time limit
Everything starts with a free meeting, online or in person: we talk about what you want to learn, and only then plan the lessons. Practice on a shoot counts as a lesson, and packages have no time limit.
My favorite shots Your teacher's work
Portraits from my own shoots. The same approach to light, posing and editing is what we work through in the lessons.
Your teacher Dimas Frolov
I am Dimas Frolov, a photographer based in Lisbon and in the profession since 2007. I photograph portraits, couples, families, weddings and events in Portugal and across Europe, and I run my own photo business, so the lessons on sales come from my own sales, not from a textbook.
I teach in English, Ukrainian and Russian.
Most common questions about photography lessons
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Learning photography in Lisbon and how the city helps
Lisbon is a good place to learn photography, and not because it is pretty. Within a short walk the city gives you almost every lighting problem a photographer meets at work.
Light that changes by the hour
In the morning the light is low and soft, the streets are still empty, and the old quarters are easy to work in. By midday, especially from late spring to early autumn, the sun is high and hard: deep shadows under the eyes and burnt-out white walls. That is exactly the light you will face on a real shoot, so it is worth learning on it rather than avoiding it.
The city as a reflector
Pale stone pavements and light façades bounce sunlight back up into faces. In a narrow street this gives a natural fill light, and you can see how a step into the shade or a quarter turn of the person changes the picture. It is one of the clearest ways to understand light without any extra equipment.
Hills, stairs and viewpoints
Lisbon is built on hills. Its stairways and viewpoints, the miradouros, teach you to work with height, lines and depth: shooting from above, from below, through the frame of a street. The same place gives very different pictures depending on where you stand.
People around you
The well-known spots are crowded. Working among tourists is a skill too: choosing the moment, the angle and the lens so that strangers stay out of the frame, and staying polite to the people around you.
Which format to choose
If you are in Lisbon, start with an in-person lesson: we can go out and look at the light together. If you live elsewhere, online lessons suit editing, portfolio and business topics well, and practice can be added when you come to Lisbon.