Mobile Portrait Photography for Instagram
A course by Erea Azurmendi, Photographer

Capture and edit your ideas through a series of images in natural light for a scroll-stopping and inspiring feed
In recent years, Instagram has become an unbeatable platform that allows us to instantly connect and share content, making it an essential tool for artists and creative minds around the world. Thanks to Instagram, photographer Erea Azurmendi, better known as @tiempodecerezas by her 146K followers, has achieved milestones she never would have imagined.
In this course, Erea teaches you how to shoot portraits with your smartphone to post on social media and curate a scroll-stopping and inspiring feed that engages your community. Learn how to capture and edit your ideas to create images that connect with users by playing with natural light, colors, and your creativity.
What will you learn in this online course?
19 lessons & 23 downloads
What's included in this course?
Meet Erea Azurmendi and hear about her relationship with photography, from her first contact at twelve years old to a full-fledged career as a freelance photographer. See some of her biggest influences in portrait photography and take some time to find your own.
Discover how to overcome a creative block and come up with original ideas to beat the blank page. Analyze portrait photography as an art form and study the basic concepts and its distinctive characteristics. Then, learn about exposition, color theory, and composition.
Decide what you want to convey with your project and create a mood board that captures your ideas, including inspiration for details like the wardrobe, photography style, and poses for your model. Prepare for your shoot by covering the materials you'll be using and learn how to adjust the settings on your phone to ensure you get quality images.
Now you're ready to start shooting. Play with different types of light and colors to capture a series of creative images: diffused light with soft shadows and blurred edges, direct light with harsh contrasts, and artistic effects using lens modifiers such as glass and colored acrylic sheets.
To finish the course, Erea helps you pick out the three best photographs for your project and teaches you how to edit them to get professional results. She also shows you some tricks for sharing content on Instagram and how to adapt it for Instagram Stories and Reels.
- 100% positive reviews (108)
- 3,151 students
- 19 lessons (3h 55m)
- 23 additional resources (11 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: Spanish
- Spanish · English · Portuguese · German · French · Italian · Polish · Dutch · Turkish · Romanian · Indonesian
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
What is this course's project?
Imagine, capture, and edit a series of portraits with natural light and share them online.

Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Anyone interested in learning how to get the most out of their smartphone to create scroll-stopping photo content for an inspiring feed on social media.
Requirements and materials
No prior knowledge is needed to take this course.
As for materials. you need your phone, the Instagram app, and a variety of objects like poster board, mirrors, glass, and colored gel sheets.

Reviews

Erea Azurmendi
A course by Erea Azurmendi
For Erea Azurmendi, photography started out as an expressive outlet that helped her manage her emotions and share her feelings with the world. She went on to study audiovisual communication, but discovered that her inspiration and aspiration for photography lay elsewhere. Social media enabled her to connect with creative people across the globe, hone her skills through feedback, and create engaging content that she now shares with a community of more than 146K followers.
She currently works with media outlets and major brands including Olympus, Narciso Rodríguez, and Cossac. She is also the co-author of the book Brava (Lunwerg 2020) and has participated in numerous expositions including Cuaderno de Campo, which was part of the international photography festival PHotoEspaña.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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Presentation
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Influences
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U2
Ideas and concepts
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The fear of blank paper
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Portrait analysis
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Exposure and composition
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Colour
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U3
Preparation of our project
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What do we want to tell and mood board
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Materials
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Get your mobile ready
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Before you start: some tips
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U4
The shooting
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Diffuse light and reels 1
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Diffuse light and reels 2
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Direct light
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Image modifiers
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U5
How to edit and share your photos
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Selection and editing 1
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Selection and editing 2
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Share your photos on Instagram
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Share in Stories
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Reels
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FP
Final project
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Photographic portrait with mobile for Instagram
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
The course is aimed at people with basic photography knowledge but doesn’t require expert skills. It’s perfect if you already use your phone for photos and want to improve your portraits, composition, and editing for Instagram.
All you need is a smartphone with a camera, access to basic editing apps, and some simple materials like poster boards or mirrors to manipulate light. No professional gear required.
You’ll learn how to use natural light, modify it with everyday objects, apply composition rules, edit photos and videos on your phone, and create engaging Instagram content including Reels and Stories.
The course teaches practical techniques for mobile portraits, session planning, mobile editing, visual composition, and building an effective visual identity on Instagram.
You’ll learn to analyze and harness natural light, create soft light, control shadows, separate the subject from the background, and use modifiers like poster board or foam core to enhance your shots.
The course covers mobile editing apps to adjust exposure, color, contrast, cropping, and apply effects. You’ll also learn how to tailor images and videos for your feed, Stories, and Reels.
Yes, you’ll learn to use the rule of thirds, symmetry, framing, color selection, and how to create a consistent, attractive Instagram feed.

Súper completo y genial explicado.
wonderful course I learned so many tips to leverage my phone to make artistic photo!
Excelente curso me ha encantado la motivacion que brinda Erea, abarca mindset y eso hace el curso muy interesante!
Excelente curso! bien explicado y todo super detallado.
El curso es interesante. Es una buena fotógrafa y transmite bien el conocimiento