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.

A lotta photographers believe there's optimal/perfect lighting conditions to make pictures worth waiting for.

The "golden hours," "cloudy days," "intense/bright direct sunlight front-lighting their subjects," etc.

The problem with that kind of narrow thinking is that it limits our creativity, understanding of light, camera operation, and photography.

Furthermore, when we limit the conditions under which we make pictures, we limit ourselves as adept and adaptable photographers.

Unless we've been sucked into a black hole, we should be able to create pictures anytime, anywhere, and of anything.

It's one thing to have our preferences, but it's another thing when our preferences get in the way of us making pictures and being better photographers.

And when we keep waiting for the "perfect/optimal" conditions, we're wasting our time because those "perfect/optimal" we have in our minds may never show up.

And if we think that the "optimal/perfect" conditions will lead to "optimal/perfect" photographs, we're doubling down on our photography delusions.

The only "optimal/perfect" conditions existing are the ones we have at "this moment."

Toss words like perfection and optimal out the window.

Our work is to create the best pictures we can, given whatever "conditions" we're experiencing.

And to do that, we've gotta understand camera operation, composition, and light.

 -------

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 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.

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

The other day, I started a series of Private Lessons covering the same material presented during the Photography Basics (Introduction To Photography) group class.

Two photographers are participating in the lessons, and they share a camera.

As usual, I start every class by having the participants make a picture and get their opinion of the picture they made, especially in terms of tonality.

Both photographers thought the tonality of the pictures created in automatic exposure mode was too bright or too dark.

I pointed out that the tonality of our picture is a primary compositional consideration, and before we begin to consider other elements of composition, we've gotta take care of the tonality.

However, there's no way to control tonality or any other elements of composition beyond framing and content while working in automatic exposure mode.

If we wanna be better photographers and make the pictures we want, the first thing we gotta realize is that automatic exposure mode won't allow us to do that.

And it won't allow us to do that because, beyond framing and content, automatic exposure mode takes away all of our creative control.

Although we might think that the automatic exposure is "making a mistake" or is malfunctioning, it's not; it's just doing what it does, which is creating a picture based on the distribution of light intensities of the stuff we're putting in the frame and giving us a standard tonality, which often isn't the totality we prefer.

In other words, the camera doesn't know what we want.

The camera knows nothing; it's an unthinking, unfeeling machine with computer algorithms that only evaluate light intensities and pumps out a picture based on that criteria.

Although that's an important criterion, it takes the human element out of the creation of the picture.

It disregards all the other elements of composition that go into making a picture that's uniquely ours.

The picture that automatic exposure makes is a mechanical and electronic creation without consciousness.

In a way, automatic exposure mode is a photographer's version of AI.

But the reality is there's no intelligence there at all, there's also no judgment or discretion, and those are the very things that add our humanity to the picture, creating meaningful, expressive photography.

Then, the question becomes, what exposure mode will allow us to add our humanity to the picture, creating meaningful, expressive photography?

It's the exposure mode that allows us to control every aspect of our composition.

Automatic exposure mode is a limited function on a complex tool (our camera).

On the other hand, manual exposure mode offers us unlimited functions so we can use the full complexity of the tool.  

When we use an exposure mode that allows us to use the full complexity of the tool, we can add our intelligence, judgment, and discretion, which is our job as humans, if we wanna create intentionally expressive, unique imagery.

When we do that, we're responsible for the pictures we make, and we restore humanity to our photography.

 -------

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 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.

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

The other day, I started a series of Private Lessons covering the same material presented during the Photography Basics (Introduction To Photography) group class.

Two photographers are participating in the lessons, and they share a camera.

As usual, I start every class by having the participants make a picture and get their opinion of the picture they made, especially in terms of tonality.

Both photographers thought the tonality of the pictures created in automatic exposure mode was too bright or too dark.

I pointed out that the tonality of our picture is a primary compositional consideration, and before we begin to consider other elements of composition, we've gotta take care of the tonality.

However, there's no way to control tonality or any other elements of composition beyond framing and content while working in automatic exposure mode.

If we wanna be better photographers and make the pictures we want, the first thing we gotta realize is that automatic exposure mode won't allow us to do that.

And it won't allow us to do that because, beyond framing and content, automatic exposure mode takes away all of our creative control.

Although we might think that the automatic exposure is "making a mistake" or is malfunctioning, it's not; it's just doing what it does, which is creating a picture based on the distribution of light intensities of the stuff we're putting in the frame and giving us a standard tonality, which often isn't the totality we prefer.

In other words, the camera doesn't know what we want.

The camera knows nothing; it's an unthinking, unfeeling machine with computer algorithms that only evaluate light intensities and pumps out a picture based on that criteria.

Although that's an important criterion, it takes the human element out of the creation of the picture.

It disregards all the other elements of composition that go into making a picture that's uniquely ours.

The picture that automatic exposure makes is a mechanical and electronic creation without consciousness.

In a way, automatic exposure mode is a photographer's version of AI.

But the reality is there's no intelligence there at all, there's also no judgment or discretion, and those are the very things that add our humanity to the picture, creating meaningful, expressive photography.

Then, the question becomes, what exposure mode will allow us to add our humanity to the picture, creating meaningful, expressive photography?

It's the exposure mode that allows us to control every aspect of our composition.

Automatic exposure mode is a limited function on a complex tool (our camera).

On the other hand, manual exposure mode offers us unlimited functions so we can use the full complexity of the tool.  

When we use an exposure mode that allows us to use the full complexity of the tool, we can add our intelligence, judgment, and discretion, which is our job as humans, if we wanna create intentionally expressive, unique imagery.

When we do that, we're responsible for the pictures we make, and we restore humanity to our photography.

 -------

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 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.

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