Why Manual Mode Isn’t Always the Answer

Spend any amount of time reading about photography on the internet, and you will probably come across the claim that professionals should shoot in manual mode. And there is certainly some truth in the idea that manual mode gives you the kind of control necessary for certain shooting scenarios, but that does not mean it is always the best choice. This great video discusses the issue a bit and why you should not always default to using manual mode for your work. 

Coming to you from PIXEL VIILAGE, this fantastic video discusses why manual mode is not always the answer. No doubt, manual mode can be a tremendously useful tool for a lot of situations, but there are other times where a semi-automatic mode like aperture priority can be a much better choice. Cameras can simply react much faster than we can, and in quickly evolving conditions, it can be better to leave those decisions up to the camera. For example, when I shoot baseball, I set my shutter speed and aperture manually, but I leave the camera on auto-ISO with a bit of negative exposure compensation to protect the highlights. When the ball is darting through light and shadow at over 100 mph, it simply is not possible for any human to adjust settings quickly enough the keep up, but with auto-ISO, my camera has no problem. Check out the video above for the full rundown.