Is Working Our DSLR In An Automatic Exposure Mode Cheating? – A blog post based on conversations with participants during my photography classes.
Cheating who?
The people who view our pictures probably don’t care what the exposure mode on our camera was when we made the picture. Here’s some of my pictures. Do you really care if they were made in manual exposure mode or not? https://wall-art-samdamico.com.
Is working our DSLR in an automatic exposure mode cheating the people who view our pictures? Only if we tell them the we made the picture in manual exposure mode.
When we make pictures our intent is to make pictures that we like.
It doesn’t matter what kind of camera we use or what exposure mode we choose, if we’re happy with our pictures it doesn’t matter.
When we’re learning to work in manual exposure mode the experience can seem awkward.
There’s some more stuff to think about in terms of composition AND we have to learn about how our camera operates to get the composition we want. It feels clunky and awkward and the process is uncertain so we are uncertain of our ability to make a photograph.
When we wanna make sure that we get a picture that’s acceptable, and were not sure that we’ll be able to pull it off while working in manual exposure mode, then we should work in whatever exposure mode we feel confident will be able to get us an acceptable picture. Is working our DSLR in an automatic exposure mode cheating considering these circumstances? Nope. we gotta do what we gotta do to get the picture that we’re ok with.
Is working our DSLR in an automatic exposure mode cheating us, the photographer, when we decide not to use, or can’t use, a manual exposure mode.
Nope.
But I’d suggest that we miss out.
We miss out by not engaging the deliberate thought process that’s required during working our camera in manual exposure mode.
Is it cheating? Nope.
It’s just our loss.
Study And Practice Photography With Sam
