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.

Hello ,

Today was the second meeting of one of the Introduction to Photography classes that started earlier this month.

We worked in manual exposure mode and covered metering. 

Metering measures the light intensity and gives us an average exposure, providing a standard tonality when centering the exposure indicator. 

We've got different metering patterns or metering modes to work with. 

Still, the one I encourage photographers to use is the most precise metering pattern available, which is usually spot metering.

We don't get access to metering modes in automatic exposure mode. 

However, we can access metering in aperture, shutter priority, and manual exposure modes. 

The problem with using metering in aperture and shutter priority modes is that if we shift our framing and content, we change our starting tonality because the metering pattern is influenced by different light intensities from our initial framing. 

That doesn't happen in manual exposure mode.

Whatever settings we pick in manual exposure don't change unless we change them.

On the other hand, in aperture and shutter priority, at least one of the settings will change, bringing us back to the standard tonality unless we use exposure compensation to increase or decrease tonality. 

But even if we use exposure compensation, the same problem exists if we shift our framing and content. 

Manual exposure mode is the most reliable way to get the exposures and tonalities we want instead of what the camera algorithms give us.

We rely on a machine to create our photographs when we work in automatic and priority exposure modes.

When we control the exposures and tonalities of our picture in manual exposure mode, we rely on our minds and skills to create our photographs.

And when we do that, our approach to creating a picture becomes thoughtful, intentional, and personally expressive. 

And that makes the compositions of our photographs uniquely ours.

The next series of the Introduction to Photography class starts in February.

And there are other scheduled group classes below. 

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

But smaller classes also mean spots fill up quicker. 

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

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.