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

But if you're tired of hearing from me, unsubscribe.

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, email 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 who sees it.

Although an aperture is a hole, when we start photography, we don’t know our apertures from a hole in the ground.
 

But it’s essential to learn all about it so we can use it effectively.

And remember, aperture is also called F-stop.

Apertures are confusing because of the numbers related to them and the size of the holes.

It’s kind of like Alice in Wonderland: smaller is bigger, and bigger is smaller.

And it’s probably a good idea to stop calling an aperture a hole; we want to describe it accurately so we can make the camera operation, composition, and light connection.
 

Aperture is an opening in our lens that we can make bigger or smaller.

Aperture adds to a composition's creativity because, beyond tonality, it controls the depth of field (DOF).

Our depth of field controls apparent sharpness in front of and behind the distance we focus on.

We’re probably aware of the effects of depth of field; we just might not have known what it’s called or how it happens.
 

Often, we use a shallow depth of field in portraiture, where the person is sharply focused, but what’s behind them is unsharp.
 

On the other hand, many landscapes have a deep depth of field, that’s when what’s in front of and behind the distance focus appears to be sharp.

But let’s be clear, we’re talking about apparent sharpness.
 

We could only focus on one distance at a time, so to say that everything in our picture is focused from front to back is not true (This is a good time to mention that the distance we focus on also influences our DOF).

What we’re seeing is the effect of a deep field.
 

If we're working in an automatic exposure mode, we don’t get to pick an aperture or any other creative control.
 

However, we could work in the priority exposure modes and aperture priority to begin studying and practicing with aperture.

If we’re already working in manual exposure mode, we could pick our aperture, meter light intensity, and use our shutter speed and ISO to get the tonality we prefer.
 

In a way, this is like working in aperture priority, except we’re working in manual exposure mode and intentionally making the aperture our priority because we want to control depth of field.

If we haven’t been studying and practicing intentionally with aperture, it’d be a good idea to start because it’ll get us familiar with one of the primary creative controls we’ve got.

That’s one of the things the Introduction to Photography class will get ya doin’.

The Introduction To Photography classes are starting soon.
 

If the schedules don’t work for you, we could arrange a series of private lessonscovering the same material.

The Photography Basics (Introduction To Photography) group classes starts soon or you can learn the same stuff as a series of Private Lessons.
  
More ways to study and practice photography with me are below.

Call me at (202) 531-2344 if you need help determining the best course for you.

—

A note about group class sizes: Did you know that some places that teach photography have up to 25 students in each class? 

Bigger ain't always better.

That's why I limit my group classes to no more than five participants because smaller classes make for better, more effective, and more efficient learning experiences.

But smaller classes also mean spots fill up quicker, so sign up soon. 

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

Currently scheduled classes are below.

And what if the timing doesn't work for you in any of my scheduled group classes? Private in-person lessons suited to your schedule are always an option.