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.

Photography culture has changed.

And a lot of it has to do with digital photography.

Because of digital photography, most of us make pictures that get seen by people we don't know.

Or we create a photograph that gets shared beyond where we want it seen.

Not too long ago, the chances of something like that happening were nearly zero.

Now, it happens all the time.

That's because almost everyone with a camera, especially the photographers using the cameras on their phones, can now self-publish the work they create.

The combination of the ease of use of production tools (cameras) and free distribution channels has changed the way photographs get seen, and as a result, that's disrupted photography's culture.

I've read that the number of photographers who uploaded their work to free photo-sharing sites ranges between an estimated 500,000 to 750,000 or more globally.

And, as the upload for free, royalty-free image libraries increases, the number of photographers who upload their work will likely increase, too.

These conditions have had a devastating impact on professional photography, especially in the segment of the industry known as stock photography.

But it's also affected other areas of photography, such as wedding photography, event photography, news photography, etc.

And it's not so much that there are more photographers and more photographs; the issue is that photographers don't realize their work's value.

If we're considering being professional photographers, we need to learn about copyright and determine our business costs.

As an example, we'll frequently get asked to photograph an event.

The potential client will say that it's two hours of coverage.

What we've gotta understand is we're working much more than two hours.

There's preproduction to make sure our camera and equipment are in good working shape and to plan logistically for the event.

Then there's post-production, which involves getting the files (photographs) ready to deliver to the client and setting up a system to deliver them.

On top of all that stuff, we've gotta invoice the client so we can get paid promptly.

All of this is work we do in the service of our client, and we need to consider all of this work and the time it takes to do it into the final cost to the client.

So even though it's two hours of photographing an event from the client's perspective, there's probably more like eight hours of work for the photographer doin' the job.

And all of those eight hours are billable time.

And don't forget to bill for expenses and mark them up.

But before we can even consider being professional photographers, we need to be excellent photographers.

That means understanding camera operation composition light so we can meet the client's needs in our work with them.

And that's where I can help; I've got an Photography Basics (Introduction To Photography) class starting Sunday, June 1 (there's two spaces left), or you could get the same instruction as a series of Private Lessons.

I hope you're observing Memorial Day.

If ya wanna take a look at a picture I made related to Memorial Day titled The Changing of The Guard, you can view it in my gallery.

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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.