These emails come with the intent of helping you be a better photographer. 

And if you want more photography stuff to read, there's a place on the interwebs where past emails I wrote are stored. You'll find 'em in the "Newsletter Hub." 

Remember, I'd like to know what you want to know about photography. So, If you have any questions, ask by sending an email to me at sam@samdamico.com. And for what it's worth. When you send me an email, unless someone's lookin' over my shoulder, I'm the only one that sees it.

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I imagine you're familiar with the axiom "There's more to (fill in the blank) than meets the eye."

It means there's always more (to something) than there appears to be at first observation. 

That axiom reminds me of our camera's inability to record the range of light intensity we can see.

This explains why we lose detail in our pictures' darkest and brightest areas, even when we can see them with our eyes.

Some photographers deal with that using a technique known as HDR (High Dynamic Range) Photography. 

I don't use it, but there's a good number of photographers that do. 

If you've taken a class with me, you know that a stop is an increment of one that doubles or halves. 

We can talk about stops in terms of camera operation (exposure and tonality) or light intensity. 

In this case, we're talking about the range of light intensity our eye can see compared to the range of tonality our camera can record with detail. 

Remember, a change of a stop doubles or halves. 

Our eye can see a 25-stop range of light intensity. 

Our camera can record no more than a  5-stop range of light intensity as tonality. 

In other words, our eye can see twenty stops more light intensity variation than our camera can record as a tonality range. 

This explains why if we make a picture on a sunny day that shows the detail of the interior of a room, whatever is outside of the window is recorded as white with no detail. 

We can fix this without using HDR by using a flash to illuminate the room's interior instead. 

We'd need to light the room to be within a five-stop range of the intensity of the light outside.  

Our camera's inability to record the full range of intensity our eye sees as a tonality range seems to bother a lot of photographers.

That explains the use of HDR. 

However, HDR is limited in its use. 

It's great to use for landscapes or architectural photography.  

But it's useless when photographing anything in flux.

For example, street photography or photojournalism.

If we understand we have a limited range of light intensity, we can record it as tonality; it becomes important to meter precisely for what we want to control tonality. 

And nothing beats spot metering for that. 

And the only way you can get access to a spot metering is by getting out of fully automatic exposure mode. 

Aperture and shutter priority modes are a good start, but they aren't reliable because the exposures shift automatically based on what the meter reads.

If you want to reliably control tonality the only way to get that control is by working in manual exposure mode. 

And that's what you'll learn during my Introduction To Photography class or the private lesson equivalent. 

The last class of the January series of Introduction To Photography starts on Sunday, January 14, and there's only one spot left. 

Smaller classes mean better learning, So there are no more than five participants and me in each class. 

And remember, we learn and improve by doing, so practice making at least one picture today. 

That's all for now; thanks for reading! 
Sam

I'll help you be a better photographer—study and practice photography with me. 

And what if the timing doesn't work for you in any of my scheduled group classes? If that's the case, let's schedule a one-time lesson or a series of in-person or online private instruction that covers the same things as my group classes. 

Ways to work with me are listed below.