Was on a nature hike recently. Wanted to capture things like birds, flowers, naturescapes, etc. Full tree canopy and shaded at times, wide open and sunny at other. Was a guided hike and I didn’t want to hold up the group. Ended up flipping it to Auto instead of fiddling with shutter/aperture. How does an experienced photographer handle that scenario? I feel so dirty for using it on Auto.
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I think that’s totally reasonable. I always felt the same way while photographing events.
That said, you should pay attention, and sometimes you may decide to switch back to manual and adjust from the automatic settings and retake a shot, to achieve something specific.
Also, shutter-priority and aperture-priority can be a great middle option. I often did that for weddings, which are often in dark (sorry, “romantically lit”) reception halls. I use shutter-priority to make sure I keep things at a reasonable place for hand-holding the camera, set my ISO based on ambient light, and let my aperture and flash float automatically to accommodate slightly different lighting in different areas. Trying to shoot “100% manual” just to prove I’m a “real photographer” would mean worse images in most cases.
As an experienced working photographer, when I’m being paid, I work hard at manually balancing those settings every second of the shoot. But being experienced, it’s also second nature. That’s part of my cost/value.
On my personal time, however, I flip to auto. I’m not working on my day off.
The problem wasn’t using auto but going on a hike where you couldn’t control the pace. I learned that when I have to worry about keeping up with the group, I turn my expectations towards photography way down because there simply is not enough time to concentrate enough. Having a camera on auto then is totally fine.
That’s a fair way to look at it. Photos were second priority to the route and knowledge provided by the guide.
Buying a camera with all the options to take photos the way you want it and using it on Auto is like buying a Ferrari to go shopping at the Supermarket.
Take your time to understand your gear, read the manual, watch some videos before you press the button because gear without skill is useless.
Changing the exposure based on what’s in the histogram doesn’t take but a split second
You feel bad using auto because you’re inexperienced. Experienced photographers don’t care.
If you’re going to be shooting something static like plants and nature you can use aperture priority mode because aperture will be more important for your photos than shutter and iso.
something, something… exposure meter
An experienced photographer develops muscle memory. I can adjust my camera while looking through the viewfinder as conditions change.
But you wouldn’t expect an inexperienced photographer to be able to do that so use whatever mode you need to.
Use Aperture priority mode with auto ISO and focus on composition.
Going manual mode creates a lot more unnecessary work with the constantly changing environment. You spend more time focusing on getting the right exposure vs focusing on the composition and miss the shot.
I know how my camera works and I’m quite comfortable using auto settings to reduce the work load.
I do use manual mode when I want a specific aperture and shutter speed combination but leave the camera on auto ISO. I adjust the lower limit of auto ISO to the shutter speed I’m using.
I also use manual mode with TTL flash for indoor shooting.
But 90% of my pictures are shot using aperture priority mode.
I never used manual anymore when I learned aperture priority is the easiest adn faastest mode. You only need to adjust iso and shutter speed.
You mean you only need to adjust ISO and aperture. Also, exposure compensation is there for the moments when you want to under or overexpose from whatever the camera thought was good.
Generally the ease of using full auto or App/Shutt priority depends on the camera you’re using.
Its much MUCH easier to get the hang of them when you have separate dials for aperture/Shutter/ISO as you can very quickly change them, the difficulty tends to come in when you have one of the models where you have to do a button combination to say change ISO or something.
As with anything a lot is just down to practise.
It’s a D5300 so yeah, button combos. It’s like learning to use a Mac after decades of PC use.
Manual mode is not better than auto. “you need to use manual” is just a gatekeeping thing from other amateurs. The pros know how to use the automatic modes and take advantage from them.
Sorry, but that’s nothing to do with gatekeeping, especially when there are a million and one tutorials on the internet helping you to get the best out of your camera, all it takes is a is a little bit of your time.
Manual mode is FAR superior to auto. You’re getting the images YOU want, not the photos the camera thinks are a perfect exposure.
Before writing crap like that down go and read up on what a camera thinks a perfect exposure is and how it works it out.
Also, what’s all this “pro’s know how to” bullshit… Knowing how to use your camera has nothing to do with being a professional.
“bullshit”, “crap”, “go and read up”
A bit aggressive aren’t we? Is something bothering you and you are taking it out against strangers on the internet? This is not encouraging anyone to have a constructive exchange of opinions with you.
If you understand how a camera calculates exposure, you can set aperture/shutter priority and use exposure compensation to get the images you want while being faster adapting to changes in lighting conditions. Plenty of tutorials about that as well.
good photo > how you got it
if auto did the trick, then you’re done.
