A student posted on Facebook that Amazon was picking up her book.
Me- Congratulations. Your work paid off.
Student- Thank you Sam…your class opened my eyes to what my camera was capable of! 😀
Me- You’ve got it wrong. It’s what you are capable of doing through your camera.
Student – Your right…I forget I’m the one who tells the camera…what it should do!
Me- That’s right. It’s not the camera that makes the picture, it’s the photographer.
This conversation reinforces that when you work your camera in fully manual exposure mode that you, as the photographer, are the one that’s responsible for the photograph. By working in fully manual exposure mode you can create thoughtfully composed photographs that are uniquely yours.
You can give up that responsibility by working in a automatic mode and wind up with pictures that are created more by the camera than by you.