Last week I asked readers what shooting mode they shoot in most.
The results actually surprised me a little (and so did the massive numbers of responses – well over 200 so far). From the emails that I get from readers and the last time I informally asked this question I was half expecting ‘Automatic’ to feature a lot more heavily in the responses.
However the vast majority of readers get a little more manual than I was expecting with the most using Aperture Priority Mode, followed by Full Manual Mode. I’ve graphed the results below to give a visual representation of what people are using.
Note: It is worth noting that I did receive a few emails from more beginner readers saying that they didn’t vote because they felt a little ‘out of their league’ as ‘Auto’ shooters.
I wanted to let those of you who are shooting in Auto know that there’s no need to be embarrassed by this at all. We all start somewhere and many experienced photographers will admit to using automatic or semi-automatic modes from time to time when the situation calls for it.
The purpose of this site is to help digital photographers of all levels to expand their knowledge and skill levels of their photography. While I do hope that some who predominantly shooting in Auto mode learn to discover the full potential of their cameras features the mode that you shoot in doesn’t make you a great photographer – there are many other factors that are just as important.
I should also note that while my personal preference is for Aperture Priority Mode – that my own choice is very situational and will depend upon the scene I’m hoping to capture and the circumstances that I’m shooting in (as I’m sure it is with many of you).
For those of you wanting to learn more about Aperture (and Shutter) Priority Mode you might like to check out this tutorial on the topic.
PS: Semi-Auto Modes refers to other modes like Portraits, Macro, Sports and Landscape (which I bundled together).
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