Auto Mode
So lets start off with Full Auto Mode, Basically this is the mode where your camera’s going to decide all your settings for you. If you are a beginner its a wonderful mode to start off with. There is absolutely nothing wrong with shooting in full auto, especially when you are unsure of what mode to be in. if you are in a situation where you are getting frustrated or confused auto mode helps decide everything from the aperture and focus to light metering and white balance. Think of it as a safe haven!
Now a lot of people think auto mode is just for beginners entry-level Digital SLRs. Now in my case I have a Canon 5D Mark 3 with a 24-70mm Lens and it has a big green “A”. Now does that mean i’m going to take bad pictures because I put it in auto mode? No because I still have access to the every feature on my Mark 3. So if you ever find your self with a high tech camera and you are getting overwhelmed and you don’t feel confident using all these modes. Especially in a session, ima need you to pop that thing in auto mode.
Full auto mode lets you concentrate on your subject and composition. You can still shoot in Raw an take advantage of exposure and color grading in post production. On the negative side it does take that control of specific aspects of your photo shoot if you want to have more control of your shoot.
Manual Mode
Manual mode, as I like to call it, Master mode because you get to control everything. If you are a control freak like I am then manual mode is going to be great for you. Now manual mode, you have control over everything. ISO, shutter speed and aperture. Used in conditions where proper image exposure requires accurate manual adjustments. Your camera is not going to figure anything out for you. Sometimes you going to want your camera to help you out in Mastering mode… I mean Manual mode isn’t something you have to use all of the time. But its amazing to use manual mode. so lets talk about those situations.
Manual Mode is necessary in studio settings with off-camera lighting but we are not going to go in depth into off camera lighting in strobes, in shooting in a studio and all that stuff. Manual Mode can keep the right exposure settings for the brief moment when your off-camera lighting flashes. Manual Mode keeps your exposure consistent in a sequence of images.
So for in studio photographers using off camera flash, like a product photographers and beauty photographers and a lot of portrait photographers can really only use manual mode. Manual mode is great when you don’t want your exposure to change at all image to image. If you need perfect consistency from one shot to another and you don’t want your shutter speed to change, aperture or ISO to change from one to image to another, then you should also be shooting in a manual mode because none of those values will change unless you physically change them on your camera.