Manual photography? Back to A(f)?

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

'Learn to photograph in M mode'. Many photography courses use this to attract people. 'A real photographer only shoots in M' is something you have heard in photography circles for years. But is that really true? This article offers an alternative view.

First of all: it is certainly true that as a serious photographer or enthusiast, you need to know how to photograph in M mode. There are always situations where you want to keep everything under your own control, for example when you are working with studio flashes.

But in almost all other situations, when you work in M mode, you set the aperture, shutter speed and ISO based on the exposure information provided by the camera. You adjust your settings accordingly.

So how do you choose those settings when working in M mode, based on what the camera has metered? For me, it works like this: I have a number of ranges in my head that suit the situation.

For example: in a particular situation, I want my aperture to be around f4. My shutter speed can be no slower than 1/500, but faster is not a problem, and I would like to keep my ISO below 4000. What if I could set the same ranges in my camera as the ones I have in my head? Would I still need to set everything manually for every situation?

If you have a camera with an electronic viewfinder, you already have a big advantage. You can see what your final shot will look like in terms of exposure. And if you do not like that, you can adjust it before taking the photo.

How do I use what I have described above in everyday practice?
My camera is set to aperture priority mode: A. With other brands, this is also called Av. I have set my ISO to Auto, with an upper limit that suits the situation.

I often choose 4000. If it is a dark situation where getting the photo is more important than any noise, this goes higher. So: family shoot outdoors, ISO 4000 maximum. Event in poor lighting conditions, where the moment must be captured at all times? Then my ISO goes to 10,000 and higher.

On my Sony camera, I can set a minimum shutter speed when using Auto ISO in A mode. I vary this minimum shutter speed depending on the situation. If I set it to the standard setting, the camera takes the focal length I am using into account. So with a 200 mm lens, the shutter speed will not drop below 1/200.

You can also set a fixed value, such as 1/1000 when photographing fast-moving subjects.

This is particularly useful in situations such as an outdoor photo shoot, where you want to focus more on the people you are photographing than on your settings.

Even though keeping an eye on my settings with one eye and adjusting them is second nature, not having to do so gives me a great sense of freedom, at least for me.
I usually combine these settings with continuous Autofocus and Eye Autofocus.

For a shoot like this, one possible setting, depending on the focal length of my lens and the number of people who need to be in the photo, is: aperture f4, Auto ISO between 100 and 4000, and minimum shutter speed 1/250.

If I want to adjust my exposure slightly and quickly, I use the +/- button on the camera. And even if you set your camera to A, M mode is still there, so if things really do not work, you can still switch from aperture priority to M.

The atmosphere in a photo is largely determined by the aperture used. And that is exactly what I want to control myself as a photographer, given the type of photos I take. If I decide that myself, I am happy for the camera to determine the other settings in many situations, within the limits I have set.

Are there any disadvantages to this way of working? The only disadvantage I see here is that when the ISO reaches the limit you have set, the shutter speed is not fixed. The camera will not go beyond the ISO limit, but it will make the shutter speed slower than the minimum you set. So it is sensible to keep an eye on the shutter speed.

The metering mode you choose also becomes more important than when you set your settings 'by eye' in the viewfinder or on the screen on the back of the camera. Sometimes it makes a huge difference, for example with the highlight metering mode, when you choose a different metering mode.

I do not consider myself a 'lesser' photographer if I choose to hand some decisions over to the camera. Being able to choose which mode best suits the situation and knowing what your camera can do is more important to me than wanting to set every photo myself.

A major advantage, in my view, is that a change in the situation does not always mean that you have to set up your camera again. Does the sun disappear behind the clouds? As long as this still fits within the limits you have set, you will not suddenly get underexposed photos, for example.

Working this way also gives me a tremendous sense of freedom. After a short adjustment period, you know that you can rely on your camera. It frees your mind to put more into the creative process of taking photos, instead of, even as an experienced M photographer, constantly changing and checking your settings.

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