Beginner photography courses in Toronto.

In-per­son • One instruc­tor • The­o­ry and prac­tice • Cen­tral location

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Google Rat­ing
5.0
Based on 62 reviews

Popular with beginners 

Photo courses popular with first-time students.

Popular with beginners scroll 

Photography courses

101: Camera Basics

101: Cam­era Basics

Auto­mat­ic mode let­ting you down? Feel­ing intim­i­dat­ed by your cam­er­a’s set­tings and but­tons? Join us to dis­cov­er your cam­er­a’s basic set­tings with the guid­ance of a pro­fes­sion­al photographer.

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Photography classes

102: Aperture and Lens

102: Aper­ture

We’ll dis­pel the com­mon mis­con­cep­tions in pho­to edu­ca­tion and teach you every­thing you should know about lens­es, from focal length and expo­sure to per­spec­tive and depth of field.

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photography workshops

103: Shutter Speed

103: Shut­ter Speed

Dis­cov­er how to con­trol your dig­i­tal camera’s shut­ter to cap­ture move­ment, freeze time, and elim­i­nate blur­ry pho­tos in our shut­ter speed work­shop for beginners.

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photography lessons

104: Manual Exposure

104: Man­u­al Exposure

Find out how to inter­pret your dig­i­tal cam­er­a’s expo­sure meter and apply it to your edu­ca­tion of shut­ter speed, aper­ture, and ISO to take man­u­al­ly exposed photographs.

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Testimonials 

Our photography courses will delight you.

Expo­sure Therapy
5.0
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Could there be a bet­ter way to gain con­fi­dence with your cam­era and learn the basics of pho­tog­ra­phy than to walk the streets of Toron­to with Paul as your instruc­tor?! Paul’s Cam­era Basics class­es are a must for any aspir­ing pho­tog­ra­ph­er; they are infor­ma­tive, well orga­nized, and thought­ful­ly planned out. And to top it off, Paul just hap­pens to be a super nice guy!
Hyun Kim
Hyun Kim
Great intro, plan­ning to take more class­es with Paul
Peter Bowman
Peter Bow­man
10/10 would rec­om­mend these cours­es to any­one who has an inter­est in learn­ing pho­tog­ra­phy but has no idea where to start! Paul is extreme­ly knowl­edge­able and great teacher
Darilyn Seymour
Dar­i­lyn Seymour
High­ly rec­om­mend course! Paul is incred­i­bly patient and is able to explain con­cepts to any lev­el of photographer.
Michael Meghory
Michael Megho­ry
Paul is an amaz­ing teacher who explains the top­ics very thor­ough­ly. Does­n’t rush and makes sure every­one under­stands before he moves on, 100% worth the price.
Hj Jassi
Hj Jas­si
In a group of five, I believe we all got some love here — lots of ques­tions answered, and knowl­edge shared. I will be book­ing anoth­er course in the near future.
Dawn Yager
Dawn Yager
Just com­plet­ed the bun­dle pack­age (4 lessons). Loved the mix of the­o­ry and prac­tice! We got plen­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ty to put the the­o­ry into prac­tice, each class. I appre­ci­at­ed how patient Paul was with my ques­tions. He answered my ques­tions in sim­ple terms and con­cise­ly. Final­ly, I real­ly appre­ci­at­ed the very small class size. Gave us ample oppor­tu­ni­ty to ask questions.
Nia D
Nia D
It was great to work with Paul. He is a very knowl­edge­able pho­tog­ra­ph­er, and the intro­duc­to­ry class­es I took were struc­tured and paced per­fect­ly. Paul is great at break­ing down advanced con­cepts using a diverse set of strate­gies, exam­ples, and analo­gies. He is also a very patient teacher. High­ly recommend.
Alan Li
Alan Li
We booked a pri­vate les­son for 2 peo­ple at work. Paul deliv­ered a dynam­ic and com­pre­hen­sive intro­duc­tion to pho­tog­ra­phy with prac­ti­cal train­ing that was cus­tomized to our pre­cise needs. He is extreme­ly per­son­able, knowl­edge­able and was able to quick­ly assess our exist­ing abil­i­ties to adjust the deliv­ery of the train­ing. Paul suc­cess­ful­ly com­bined the­o­ry, prac­ti­cal appli­ca­tions and post-pro­duc­tion infor­ma­tion that was spe­cif­ic to our needs that we will be able to imme­di­ate­ly take back and use in our roles in Mar­ket­ing and Com­mu­ni­ca­tions. We high­ly rec­om­mend Paul and Expo­sure Ther­a­py for cor­po­rate or per­son­al train­ing in photography.
Alexandra B.
Alexan­dra B.
Loved the course and the expe­ri­ence! I was entire­ly new in pho­tog­ra­phy, so I took the begin­ner bun­dle work­shop and spent 4 days learn­ing from Paul. He’s very knowl­edge­able, explains things in an easy way and most impor­tant­ly ensures that you under­stood every con­cept. The lessons are out­doors, so it’s very nice to walk through the area and put in prac­tice the the­o­ry. This work­shop was exact­ly what I need­ed to feel con­fi­dent to con­tin­ue in the pho­tog­ra­phy jour­ney. Thank you so much Paul!
Daniela cestone duque
Daniela ces­tone duque
Paul presents infor­ma­tion in a very con­sum­able and approach­able way. He helped me close the holes in my self taught jour­ney; don’t sit there think­ing about it, sign up for one of his class­es and get excit­ed. You’re going to learn and love it. THANK-YOU Paul!!
Jeff Terrell
Jeff Ter­rell
I had a three hour pri­vate les­son with Paul. Paul was excel­lent and work­ing with me at my pace and was very good in ensur­ing I under­stood the con­cepts before mov­ing onto the next top­ic. I left that ses­sion with a much bet­ter under­stand­ing of the basics. I look for­ward to the next session!
Brian Bader
Bri­an Bader
Had my first class today with Paul. I am very hap­py with what I learned today. Paul was very patient and he answered all ques­tions regard­ing pho­tog­ra­phy. Over­all, I’m real­ly glad I reg­is­tered the course, and I’m able to take some decent pic­tures now.
Ruibin Wang
Ruib­in Wang
Paul goes above and beyond to make sure you under­stand how your cam­era works. I par­tic­i­pat­ed in the 4 begin­ner work­shops. In every work­shop you will learn about spe­cif­ic set of set­tings and char­ac­ter­is­tics of the cam­era, sup­port­ed by a wealth of back­ground infor­ma­tion. The 4 work­shops com­bined will give you a com­plete and sol­id foun­da­tion of all the things your cam­era can do and how you can operate/influence that. You will not only learn how your cam­era works, but also why it works the way it works. This com­bi­na­tion real­ly helps you under­stand all prin­ci­ples in photography.The work­shops are filled with ‘exper­i­ments’ to test out in real life what you just learned. These exer­cis­es are things that you can­not do wrong. Even if you exe­cute them not exact­ly as intend­ed, Paul is very patient to make sure every­one under­stands what went ‘wrong’ and why it happened.Taking part in the work­shops made me feel con­fi­dent to exper­i­ment and con­tin­ue learn­ing on my own, as I now know the basics and have gained a great foun­da­tion to build upon.Additionally, Paul is a great guy and you will feel com­fort­able from the first sec­ond. This work­shop is high­ly recommended!
Matthias Sijtstra
Matthias Sijt­stra
I am very glad that I took lessons at Expo­sure Ther­a­py. I am entire­ly new to pho­tog­ra­phy and had nev­er even touched a DSLR until a friend was kind enough to gift me a camera.I decid­ed to take class­es at Expo­sure Ther­a­py based on the over­whelm­ing­ly pos­i­tive reviews of Paul’s teach­ing abil­i­ties. Suf­fice to say the reviews were correct.I had such a pos­i­tive expe­ri­enc­ing learn­ing from Paul. I was a com­plete begin­ner who did not even under­stand how a cam­era worked. Paul explained con­cepts very clear­ly and demon­strat­ed them through action based learn­ing and real­ly fun exercises.We strolled through­out the U of T cam­pus area prac­tic­ing dif­fer­ent pho­tog­ra­phy tech­niques build­ing my knowl­edge and prac­tice of con­cepts step by step. I nev­er thought I would be shoot­ing pic­tures man­u­al­ly tak­ing full con­trol of my cam­era set­tings, but now I do with con­fi­dence. Paul was very encour­ag­ing through­out the process and also showed me how to spot errors in expo­sure, blur­ring due to cam­era shake, and oth­er flaws that I would have nev­er noticed with­out instruction.This was exact­ly what I need­ed to feel con­fi­dent tak­ing pic­tures and more impor­tant­ly I’m more excit­ed than ever to learn more about pho­tog­ra­phy and take good pic­tures! I will def­i­nite­ly go back for more lessons with Paul when the weath­er gets a bit nicer again.
Khaleel Grant
Khaleel Grant
Excel­lent course and an instruc­tor that knows his stuff and knows how to com­mu­ni­cate it effectively
Nigel Grannum
Nigel Grannum
I’m so hap­py and con­fi­dent with using my cam­era now after putting my cam­era aside for 2 years!! Final­ly got the con­fi­dence again and even more excit­ed about learn­ing pho­tog­ra­phy in gen­er­al. I just took the 101 from the begin­ners series and I’m pumped to learn even more. Paul was very knowl­edge­able, patient and infor­ma­tive, way bet­ter than tak­ing online tuto­ri­als!! Thanks Paul!!
T
T
I spent a great 4 days with Paul, learn­ing all the essen­tials of how to take great pic­tures and use my cam­era prop­er­ly. Paul is very knowl­edgable and thor­ough in his teach­ing. I would high­ly rec­om­mend this course for any­one want­i­ng to explore the world of photography.
Nina Ramscar
Nina Ram­scar
This Sep­tem­ber I took the 4‑part begin­ners work­shop. The best invest­ment in help­ing me under­stand how to use and opti­mize my new Canon DSLR mir­ror­less cam­era. From under­stand­ing how to hold the cam­era cor­rect­ly, to set­ting fun­da­men­tals, aper­ture, shut­ter speed, ISO, etc., we cov­ered all the basics, cor­rect­ing as required to ensure every­one grasped the con­tent before mov­ing on.Covid-19 safe­ty pre­cau­tions were observed at all times, allow­ing for a com­fort­able, safe learn­ing envi­ron­ment and expe­ri­ence. I felt 100% safe and in very capa­ble hands with Paul.Paul’s teach­ing style com­bined the­o­ry and prac­ti­cal tech­niques, pro­vid­ing stu­dents with the right lev­el of infor­ma­tion to ensure a sol­id under­stand­ing of the basics.I picked up the cam­era post-course and am enjoy­ing my new found expertise.I do not hes­i­tate in rec­om­mend­ing Expo­sure Ther­a­py. You will be very hap­py with the out­come. Thanks Paul!-Catherine
Catherine Hutt
Cather­ine Hutt
I took the begin­ners bun­dle work­shop this past week­end and I had a great expe­ri­ence. I learned so much, and Paul was an amaz­ing teacher, super pro­fes­sion­al, and real­ly patient; there was no pho­tog­ra­phy ques­tion he could­n’t answer, and the mix of the­o­ry and prac­tice was just per­fect! 100% recommended!
Luciana Albujar
Luciana Albu­jar
Great expe­ri­ence! Paul is pro­fes­sion­al, orga­nized, pre­pared and patient with begin­ner photographers.
Donna Wawzonek
Don­na Wawzonek
Real­ly enjoyed the work­shop! Paul is a great teacher and helped me under­stand how to get the most from my cam­era. Once I under­stood how to real­ly use the man­u­al set­tings we walked around the city and Paul chal­lenged me with some very inter­est­ing and prac­ti­cal shots. I look for­ward to doing anoth­er workshop!
Horst Finkbeiner
Horst Finkbein­er
Great con­tent, one-on-one help and now I feel so much more com­fort­able with my cam­era and pho­tog­ra­phy as a whole.
Erin Gouweleeuw
Erin Gouweleeuw
Paul is a knowl­edge­able instruc­tor. He’s great at mak­ing com­plex ideas sim­ple to under­stand and adapt into practice.
Yasmin Salib
Yas­min Salib
I spent an amaz­ing two days tak­ing all four of the begin­ner lev­el cours­es and am so glad I did! Before sign­ing up, I must admit I was some­what con­cerned about how this could be suc­cess­ful­ly done when there wasn’t even a class­room to go to. It was the “meet in front of.….” a build­ing on Bloor that raised a tiny red flag. Nonethe­less, I decid­ed to go for it because I’d tak­en a tra­di­tion­al pho­tog­ra­phy class else­where last year and thought it would be worth try­ing some­thing dif­fer­ent. Again, I’m so glad I did! Paul is an excel­lent teacher. He’s laid back and fun­ny, knows so much about pho­tog­ra­phy and most impor­tant­ly, how to teach it in a way that’s under­stand­able, regard­less of one’s lev­el of under­stand­ing. We got a mix of the­o­ry and then used the beau­ti­ful set­ting of the U of T cam­pus to apply what we learned. He took the time to answer every ques­tion and, as a result, I had more than a few eure­ka moments each day because some­thing that had been explained before (in the oth­er class I took) final­ly sank in. The class size is kept very small so there’s enough time for him to help each per­son with what­ev­er chal­lenge they might have. All in all, well worth it!
Beverly G.
Bev­er­ly G.
Paul has an excep­tion­al teach­ing style, depth of knowl­edge, and sea­soned expe­ri­ence. Dur­ing the class­es from which I was­n’t expect­ing any­thing decent, or even action­able after­ward, he went through all of the build­ing blocks of the­o­ry. Fol­low­ing the the­o­ry por­tion of the les­son, there was the prac­tice, where at dif­fer­ent set­tings, stu­dents took pho­tos, expe­ri­enc­ing what those set­tings mean for our­selves. As the result, stu­dents gained good judge­ment about all key aspects of mir­ror­less cam­era operation.Paul, with ease, answered all ques­tions about the pho­tog­ra­phy that were com­ing up dur­ing the class. All of the lessons were out­doors with the short indoor ses­sions for theory.If you haven’t been to a pho­tog­ra­phy class and own DSLR or mir­ror­less — you are miss­ing a lot.Paul’s class­es should be taught in every high school and every uni­ver­si­ty. They are excep­tion­al. Do not spend time decid­ing; go for all of them that are available.
Chris Robinson
Chris Robin­son
I received a pri­vate ses­sion as a gift and in a cou­ple of hours, Paul had me prepped and ready for our African safari trip! It was an excel­lent, prac­ti­cal, hands on session.I rec­om­mend time with Paul as a thought­ful gift for the ama­teur pho­tog­ra­ph­er on your list!
L Oldfield
L Old­field
Paul was incred­i­bly knowl­edgable and pas­sion­ate about pho­tog­ra­phy. I’m a new­bie to a DSLR and he gra­cious­ly taught me the basics, the the­o­ry and answered all of my ques­tions. Would rec­om­mend Expo­sure Ther­a­py to all levels!
Melinda Berman
Melin­da Berman
Paul is a super instruc­tor and the expe­ri­ence was positive.
Catherine Ferris
Cather­ine Ferris
I had a pri­vate les­son with Paul to learn how to use my new mir­ror­less cam­era. Paul has pre­pared an excel­lent, log­i­cal ‘les­son plan’ which cov­ers the key things you need to know & how to access the func­tion­al­i­ty for bet­ter shots. He is well orga­nized, patient, very knowl­edge­able and has a warm sense of humour. In addi­tion to being a skilled pho­tog­ra­ph­er, he is also an excel­lent teacher of pho­tog­ra­phy — these do not always go hand in hand, in my expe­ri­ence. I will def­i­nite­ly be back for fur­ther lessons and hap­pi­ly rec­om­mend Paul/Exposure Ther­a­py to others.
Krista Slade
Krista Slade
The course was very enjoy­able. Our instruc­tor was knowl­edge­able and knew how to share that knowl­edge with an eager group of begin­ners. I’d def­i­nite­ly rec­om­mend the begin­ner set of class­es for any­one whose struggling.
Peter Bartlette
Peter Bartlette
I recent­ly fin­ished the four day pro­gram and it’s eye open­ing. Seems like I’ve been pok­ing around in the dark this past year. Paul’s struc­tured his class­es well with a good pro­gres­sion for beginners.
Marsha Wallace
Mar­sha Wallace
Paul was real­ly help­ful in con­nect­ing the dots and answer­ing ques­tions on dif­fer­ent tech­niques I’ve strug­gled with. Loved the course and the expe­ri­ence, high­ly rec­om­mend! Thanks again Paul
Scott Stallman
Scott Stall­man
I would def­i­nite­ly rec­om­mend these work­shops! Paul explained things clear­ly, made great con­ver­sa­tion, and clear­ly knows what he’s doing.
Jenn Armitage
Jenn Armitage
Def­i­nite­ly rec­om­mend­ed. I had a great expe­ri­ence and they helped me over­come a few mistakes.
Jeanne Smithe
Jeanne Smithe
Paul is a great instruc­tor! He explains every­thing real­ly clear­ly. I would def­i­nite­ly take more cours­es with him in the future, and would high­ly rec­om­mend him to any­one look­ing to devel­op their pho­tog­ra­phy skills.
Jillian Sprenger
Jil­lian Sprenger
Paul the instruc­tor was effec­tive in help­ing me fig­ure out a few con­cepts that I’ve been strug­gling to under­stand. Had a few light­bulb moments!
Philippe Martel
Philippe Mar­tel
Nice expe­ri­ence. I learned a lot about my cam­era and liked the group aspect.
Calvin Tsui
Calvin Tsui
No regrets. I had a won­der­ful expe­ri­ence in the begin­ner group. Good mix of the­o­ry and hands on learning.
Danica Lynn
Dan­i­ca Lynn
I took a full week­end of their begin­ner pho­tog­ra­phy class­es and it was an eye open­ing expe­ri­ence to say the least. With all the prac­tice we got I’m feel­ing much more con­fi­dent with my camera.
Ricardo Belize
Ricar­do Belize
I was gift­ed a pri­vate les­son to learn about my new cam­era. Paul was great!
Greta Leung
Gre­ta Leung
I took a pri­vate les­son with Paul. He did a fan­tas­tic job at fig­ur­ing out my points of con­fu­sion and help­ing me over­come them.
Cira Marlowe
Cira Mar­lowe
Paul is a great instruc­tor. He takes his time to explain as much as pos­si­ble. I took two cours­es with him and will def­i­nite­ly take more. High­ly recommended!!
lesly abb
lesly abb
I was trav­el­ing to Toron­to and saw an add for this class, it seemed inter­est­ing because I was always hav­ing trou­ble with the resaults of my cam­era. Paul was very help­ful in the way which he explained the con­cepts very well and it was nice­ly bro­ken down for a begin­ner like myself.
Maryam Akhgar
Maryam Akhgar
Paul was great! He real­ly takes his time to make sure that you under­stand what he is teach­ing. He’s very knowl­edge­able and explains things in a way that a begin­ner like myself can understand.
Joshua Jones
Joshua Jones
Paul was a great instruc­tor and explains con­cepts clear­ly. He seems to have unend­ing patience for folks like me that take time to get things. Thanks!
Yves B. Goode
Yves B. Goode
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About Instructor 

Toronto photography instructor with his dog at the beach.

Meet your instructor.

Expo­sure Ther­a­py is a pho­tog­ra­phy edu­ca­tion project by Paul Kou­nine. Paul has a back­ground in photography—primarily trav­el and wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy—and cin­e­matog­ra­phy, which he jok­ing­ly refers to as “just like pho­tog­ra­phy, but at 23.976 frames per sec­ond.” He knows his stuff and is keen to share his insights with you so that you’ll know it, too.