Today’s cameras can do amazing things and really can produce great images in all modes. Yet, I still get asked, what is the best mode to shoot in? Truth is, any of them. Probably not the answer you thought was coming. Having said that, I have never used Programmed (Auto) where the camera is in charge of everything. That is probably because learning during the film days, there was no auto setting. You had to understand how the aperture, shutter speed chosen and the ISO affected a photograph. The following three photographs were all shot in different modes, manual, aperture priority and shutter priority.

I prefer to shoot wildlife in manual mode, but that is just me. I have used the other modes with great success as well and it is really dependent on the scenario and situation. Manual though gives me full control of my settings. I generally choose the DOF and shutter speed allowing the camera to choose the ISO that best compliments that other two settings. Is it true manual if I use Auto ISO, technically no, but the other two settings, to me are the most important.

I am not the type of photographer who will rely and just one mode. We have spent a lot of money on our cameras and they are quite intelligent trying to get us the correct exposure. Having said that, they look at a scene very simplistically. The image or scene is either to bright or to dark. The exposure will adjust accordingly. I don’t always agree with its choice and that is where other controls like exposure compensation come in but that is another post entirely. I use the Aperture priority when I want to have a soft bokeh on the background.

In this scenario, I wanted the background to be darker to allow for the subject top pop from the background so I did underexpose by using a higher shutter speed. Then, I did use a bit of flash here to accentuate the sparrow to help separate my subject.

Each mode in these scenarios were chosen to achieve a desire effect. My point is that they all produce great images and can be used as needed. As your skill and comfort levels grow, you can make decisions based on your photography genre and likes. There are scenarios where one might be more appropriate than others, but you will have to make that decision as the time of capture.