Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

I use aperture the most.
I use them all. It just depends on the situation.
After all, I did pay a lot of money for all those options.
Welcome to the forum!!!
Pat

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

I think you should not ride bent, that's for old people and the girls will snicker at you! And certainly NOT with a camera around your neck!!!
Bent, welcome to the Hog.
I use pretty much every mode pretty much equal since I do a variety of shooting. I shoot sports mostly on Shutter. I shot portraits mostly on Manual. I'll do some indoor stuff on Aperture. But it depends on the desired outcome.
If conditions(light) is changing constantly I'll shoot Auto ISO as well.
So it depends on the shots and the lenses I'm using, not to mention of course the light conditions.
I don't favor ANY mode other than the apropriate mode for that particular shot or shots.
That goes for the metering modes as well.
If your a one-trick-pony, well I guess you only need one mode!!! LoL
Again, welcome.

PS: and try to unbend will ya....., it's more MANLY!!!
SS

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

I think I use a 50/50 mix between shutter priority and aperture priority. I often use SP when hand-holding to insure I don't get blurred images. I use AP when on a tripod, as shutter speed is usually not of concern for landscapes unless the wind is causing movement.

BebuLamar

I use manual mode the most.
Programmed isn't for beginner it's for Professional.
Scenes mode are for the know it all users.
However, use whatever mode that works for you it doesn't matter. Each person has a different way to do things. None is better than others in general. Manual is best for me but not neccessarily best for anyone else.

BebuLamar

I can't recommend the book.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

If you look at the settings for programme modes within the menu, you can see what is actually happening to the jpeg image by the camera. Depending on your skill level you could remember to recreate some or all of those for yourself. I pretty much just do landscapes and have created a custom set of settings based loosely on the pre sets, adding and subtracting some. It gives me a quick base shot to check when post processing. It is not always useful, but as an 'idea' it sets 'the ball park'.

Aperture and shutter priority are simply two sides of the same triangle. You can achieve a similar effect by using either if you understand how ISO gives and takes away your options. Canon has AV which allows you to focus on a moving object and it will adjust the aperture as the light changes.

Manual is often quoted as 'The must have mode' to be a photographer. I wonder how many people simply 'dial down' to the zero and then press the shutter? Some cameras will give you 1 or 2 stops either way in a burst mode in any case. (my fuji combines them into one shot even!) Manual is great when you want a particular look and have time to 'set up'. It is also a 'must' if you use old lenses and non electronic extension tubes.

Auto and programme auto will give you great general shots. It is the 'bread and butter' of many photographers. Again it is a way of getting a 'hang' of where and what you want to reset your camera to in order to achieve 'your own kind' of shot.

Beginners begin with a camera, There are no real beginner's settings. There are no professional’s settings either! It is not the mode that you are in - it is the mood and where it takes you.

Have fun, the most important button is the shutter

Haydon

I shoot manual for static images and aperture priority frequently with events in RAW. I don't use ANY scene modes at all. I would prefer to have that control instead of the camera making too many of the decisions.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

DOF is Depth Of Field, the region of the photo that's in focus. Large apertures (small numbers) have a shallow DOF and small apertures (large numbers) have larger DOF.

As far as the ISO is concerned, I change it as much as I need to. If I want to change the shutter speed by a factor of two I have to change the ISO by a factor of two. Going from ISO 100 to 200 will allow me to use a higher shutter speed, e.g. from 1/30 to 1/60. Modern cameras can use fairly high ISO levels. My daytime shots are generally in the ISO 200-800 range. Indoor or night shots I can use ISO up to 5000 and sometimes even higher. Noise increases with increasing ISO but you can reduce the noise to some extent in postprocessing.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

WAG's:

Aperture mode - ~65%
Shutter mode - ~15%
Manual mode - ~15%
Program or other - ~5%

rbfanman

I change from Shutter Priority, to Aperture Priority, to Manual, fairly often, depending on what I am shooting. I don't bother with Program.

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

I used to think that if I left the camera on Program mode, then the Nikon algorithm would take care of the details and since I shot in RAW, I could fix it in post. Then I took this amazing workshop and learned the true creative potential of manual mode. Camera's on Manual all the time now.

Hip Coyote

I typically shoot in raw and over expose by at least a half a stop (maybe not the smartest thing but I adjust later in post.) More often than not, I use aperture priority to control depth of field. I also have a custom setting for bracketing in aperture mode so I can do HDR later. If an ND filter goes on it is usually to allow for longer shutter times so I use manual. Finally, if for some reason something rapidly happens that I did not anticipate and want to shoot, I use what ever auto program I can find to get the shot.

bentrider Loc: Mississippi

Boy, what a wealth of good advice, friends. Thanks to all of you. I've gotten enough new ideas here to keep me busy for a while. Thanks for the encouragement.

bentrider Loc: Mississippi

Whoa, SharpShooter! I've got more than 2500 miles on my Rans Stratus bent!

And yes, I carry a camera with me, a little Canon point-and-shoot. Or on my cell phone. For example...

frjack Loc: Boston, MA

I use manual and RAW almost exclusively. The only exceptions are those rare moments when asked to photograph some sort of gathering, perhaps once a year, when I don't want to waste time processing afterwards. The exceptions account for less than 1% of the shots.