Beginner photography course in Trieste

My Beginner photography course in Trieste is back this year: a course for complete beginners as well as for those who already know “a thing or two” but want a learning path suited to everyone, designed to give you the technical and creative foundations of photography.

The course (10 lessons in total) starts on Tuesday 29 September 2026 (7 pm to 9 pm) and takes place in my photo studio in Trieste, Via Cesare Rossi 29/2.

The aim of this course is to teach participants to use their camera in manual mode, so they can make the most of its creative potential. It takes place in a fully equipped photo studio where, from the very first lesson, you’ll practise with the studio equipment (flash, continuous lights, backdrops, props…).

The beginner photography course has 10 lessons in total (7 theory lessons, 2 practical sessions on location and 1 practical session in the studio), held in my photo studio and, for the practical outings, on location.

It’s a course for complete beginners as well as for those who already know the basics and want to improve.

Beginner course programme and schedule

• Tuesday 29 September 2026 (7 pm – 9 pm): start of the course. Introductions and first theory lesson.
• Tuesday 6 October (7 pm – 9 pm).
• Tuesday 13 October (7 pm – 9 pm).
• Sunday 18 October: first outing, from 9 am to 1 pm. Location to be decided.
• Tuesday 20 October (7 pm – 9 pm)
• Tuesday 27 October: night photo walk in the city, from 7 pm to 9 pm.
• Tuesday 3 November (7 pm – 9 pm)
• Tuesday 10 November (7 pm – 9 pm)
• Tuesday 17 November (7 pm – 9 pm)
• Tuesday 24 November (7 pm – 9 pm)

Why take this photography course?

The teacher is a professional photographer

This course is taught by professional photographer Davide Zugna (if you’d like to know more about me, visit this page): a professional photographer can share real examples and success stories (and stories of failure too!) from their own work, offering inspiration and practical lessons on handling different photographic situations and clients.

I managed (with a lot of effort!) to turn my passion into my job, and I love sharing my photographic experience with my students and with other photography enthusiasts.

Lessons take place in a photo studio

The theory lessons are held in my photo studio, which has a wide range of equipment such as backdrops, strobes, stands, continuous lights and a darkroom where I develop and print my film photos.

Having lessons in a studio lets you get “in tune” with the world of photography right away: we’ll use the studio equipment to practise during the lessons, so you understand the topics better.

Developing an artistic vision

A photography course can help you develop a personal style and an artistic vision, teaching you how to express emotions and tell stories through images.

Personal challenge and creative growth

A photography course can be a challenge that sparks creativity and gives you a sense of personal achievement as you see your skills improve.

Improving your technical skills

A photography course is essential for understanding how your camera works, manual settings such as aperture, shutter speed and ISO, and how to use them to take better, more thoughtful shots.

You shoot with your brain first, then with your camera! 🙂

Getting to know modern equipment

With photographic technology constantly evolving, a course is a chance to learn about the latest developments and the most advanced gadgets, such as the newest mirrorless cameras and drones.

Networking and community

Taking a photography course lets you meet people with similar interests, make professional and social connections, and find mentors and collaborators.

Taking photos isn’t just an artistic moment, it’s also a lovely social one :).

Preparing for a professional career

For those who want a career in photography, a course can provide the skills and the foundation of knowledge needed to work in various fields, such as fashion, photojournalism or commercial photography.

The teacher’s photo gallery

My photographic work focuses mainly on portrait photography, both in the studio and outdoors (often using flash or artificial lights).

That doesn’t mean I don’t work in other genres, such as landscape or nature photography: I love travelling and being in nature, so much so that this year I became a certified nature and hiking guide (GAE), an activity I’d like to combine with photography. But more on that another time 🙂

What will the beginner course cover?

From film to AI-generated images. With a visit to the darkroom!

As in any self-respecting photography course, we’ll go through a short history of photography (no, you won’t be bored!): we’ll see how photography evolved from the first “camera obscura” to film and digital photography.

Knowing old photographic techniques (cyanotypes, daguerreotypes…) and black and white developing and printing will help you better understand modern photography, gradually leading to concepts we still use today in digital photography.

We’ll get our hands on “cameras from another era“, film cameras such as twin-lens reflexes and other cameras that made history. And we’ll take a peek at the darkroom in my photo studio (spoiler: a black and white developing and printing course is planned).

Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to photography: AI is changing the world of photography (and much more), and we’ll take a “peek” at the new technologies revolutionising editing and the creation of digital images.

Follow me on my YouTube channel to see the videos on this fascinating topic (in Italian).

Which digital camera should you choose?

This lesson is about getting to know modern cameras better: we’ll see how the concepts from the first lesson, on the history of photography, help us understand how modern digital cameras work.

• DSLRs, mirrorless cameras and phones: which camera is right for me?
• Sensor types (full frame, APS-C);
• What to look at before wasting money;
• Which matters more, the body or the lens?

Lenses: which “glass” should you choose for your camera?

Zoom, wide-angle, prime lenses… which ones are right for me?

• The characteristics of a lens.
• Focal length;
• Lens speed (maximum aperture);
• Photographic filters;
• The best lenses for:
  • Landscape photography;
  • Portrait photography;
  • Macro photography;
  • Sports photography;

Hands-on, right away!

The main aim of this beginner course is to teach you to use your own camera in manual mode, so you can create the images you have “in your mind” with your camera.

In this lesson, to start practising straight away, we’ll see how to use our cameras in the “lazy” modes (Auto, Program, shutter or aperture priority…) so we can already try things out, both in the studio and outdoors.

The exposure triangle

Photography means “writing with light“: in this part of the course we’ll see how to measure the light in the scene using your camera’s light meter (or an external one) to create the photos we want.

We’ll understand how reading the exposure correctly and managing the light falling on our subjects can dramatically change the way we photograph and our style.

• Metering modes (Spot, Centre-weighted, Matrix…);
• The Exposure Triangle
• Aperture and depth of field;
• The shutter and shutter speed;
• ISO
• We’ll discover (practising directly in the studio) that aperture lets you create creative effects such as background blur or bokeh… we’ll have fun!

Managing digital images

Using the images taken during the practical outing, we’ll see how to manage our digital archive with Lightroom and other free software (e.g. RawTherapee).

We’ll discuss the images from both a technical and a compositional point of view.

The beginner photography course costs 150 euros including VAT.

The course starts on Tuesday 29 September 2026 and takes place in my photo studio in Trieste.

Max 10 participants.

For any other information you can email me directly at davidezugna@gmail.com or send me a WhatsApp message on 328 5624498.