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 ,

Saturdays are private lesson days, and I meet students in the Mount Pleasant section of Washington, DC.

I can work with up to four separate photographers on Saturdays.

Although we usually schedule for an hour, I schedule a half hour between meetings just in case we need more than an hour, and we typically do.

And sometimes two or three people will take a private lesson as a group. In that case, we may schedule two hours or more instead of one.

Today, I worked with two separate students.

The second photographer I met with this past Saturday was also a one-hour private lesson, but this was the first time working with him, unlike the previous student I worked with that day. 

We started with him making a picture so I could observe how he operated his camera.

I then asked him to critique the picture to hear his thoughts about creating his work.

In short, he was working on aperture and shutter priority, and we identified some problems with focusing.

I aimed to get him to walk away after the lesson, working in manual exposure mode. 

In other words, metering and changing exposure and ISO to increase and decrease tonality and focusing efficiently.

I worked with his camera to see if I could identify any camera settings affecting the outcome of his efforts.

We turned off camera settings that were adding effects to the picture that were working against what we were trying to accomplish, and there were focusing issues that required troubleshooting.

During our conversation, he informed me that he changed some settings on the camera based on YouTube videos that might be causing the problems with focusing, and he needed to figure out how to reverse what he did. 

As a result, he suggested resetting the camera to factory settings.

Once he reset the camera to factory settings, we changed focusing modes, focusing areas, and metering modes/patterns.

We became familiar with changing the aperture and shutter speed and focusing while composing the picture using the viewfinder in manual exposure mode.

Camera operation was now simplified and efficient, allowing for a better understanding of how camera operation influences composition. 

Next, we relied on the spot meter and exposure indicator interplay to achieve a standard tonality, focused, made the picture, and critiqued the image to control tonality.

The outcome of the lesson was we established an understandable and efficient way to work; he just needed to practice doing what we covered and address any questions during the practice.

While watching him work, he worked smoothly and decisively.

He asked a few questions but mainly mentioned that camera operation made sense, and he understood camera operation and composition more than when we started the lesson. He felt he'd learned a lot.

That assured me that I accomplished my aim of him walking away after the lesson, working in manual exposure mode.

The lesson went beyond the hour scheduled, but only by a little. 

He made significant gains in skillful camera operation and composition relatively quickly.

Here's the thing: If we understand what changes will most impact our work, we can make a few adjustments to how we work and make significant differences in our work and understanding.

In other words, we become better photographers.

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.