The photos above were taken with automatic, which is a great place to start, but learning manual will further your photography expertise.
You’ve just gotten your new camera and have been taking photos left and right. You’re amazed with the quality of the pictures you’re getting, but struggle when the automatic flash wants to come out, can’t get the focus on the right object and some photos are just coming out overexposed or blurry.
Time to switch to manual mode.
Manual settings (M, Canon/ M, Nikon) allow the photographer to craft their own end goal for a picture. This creative control allows you to take it one step further than the camera might want to risk, giving you a picture that is totally unique and all yours.
While using automatic (A, Canon/Auto, Nikon) may be easier, manual gives the photographer control over all aspects of the photo such as shutter speed, Aperture, and ISO. There are semi-automatic settings such as Aperture priority and Shutter priority that are easier to ease in to manual mode. These will be talked about in later posts.
All in all, automatic is a great place to start for beginners, but it ultimately restrains the photographer from learning how to get their best shot. In later lessons, I will teach you how to use manual settings and the different priority modes.
Hannah Matt 