Jack 13088 Loc: Central NY

OK, I got it. I withdraw the sentence.

Leinik Loc: Rochester NY

I am sorry to say it but I would like to send a reminder for clarification. And this might even be useful for future conversations/threads.
When you write: "Please don't provide the usual answer to what is the difference between Auto and Program modes." and you describe your procedure I am at first confused by what you call "Auto".
Technically:
1- a fully manual camera without light meter or with a light meter that is not synchronised with the information in the viewfinder is "a manual camera".
2-a manual camera or mode where the light meter info and the settings of aperture and shutter speed are synchronised and visible in the view finder is a "semi-automatic" camera (exposure is not automatic yet).
3-then came the "auto" modes regarding exposure, either "auto" with priority to Aperture (Av for Canon, A for everyone else), or "auto" with priority to Shutter Speed (Tv for Canon, S for everyone else). These are the original "Auto' modes and using the term "auto" for something else is confusing as I guess you are using it to name a mode that when it came out in the analog world was called "Ai" (for intelligent auto), a kind of super "P" (program mode) now often including automatic ISO settings for digital cameras (irrelevant for film cameras).
My guess if "P" and let us call it "super P" exist it means that we are in the presence of different algorithms affecting, it seems, white balance. There remains an absence of denomination for a third "auto" mode quickly mentioned above, one that is specific to the digital era and which consists in the operator (photographer) choosing aperture AND shutter speed and camera choosing ISO... I think our vocabulary is lacking and lagging! ;o) So specifying our usage of such words as "Auto" may be all the more relevant.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

duplicate deleted

PHRubin Loc: Nashville TN USA

Have you inspected the EXIF data to see what differences in settings were used? Even when converting RAW to JPG SOOC, in most modes the camera adds enhancements that were selected such as exposure tint, contrast, etc. Auto often ignores such user settings.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

I had thought the OP referred to the mode listed as ‘auto’ on the mode dial of most modern cameras, where the camera selects shutter speed, and aperture abd ISO and {sometimes parameters for producing JPEG}

BebuLamar

Because in this case the color would not come out the way he likes. I always recommend beginners to start with manual and it's the easiest mode but in this case I am sure the OP will get the results he likes even less than what the got with P.

Sakwes Loc: Peace River, Alberta, Canada

I don't know anything about your camera but I know mine does a lot of in camera processing of things like color saturation, contrast, exposure ext.

In auto mode those perimeters are fixed by the camera, in P mode you choose the perimeters.

Change your P mode settings for picture style and white balance and you should at some point get identical photos.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I have no idea why you are seeing different color rendition in those two different modes. I don't shoot with Nikon digital (I have a number of vintage Nikon film cameras and lenses). I never shoot with Auto (some of my cameras don't even have it). And I very rarely use Program mode.

You are right about setting a custom white balance. Done right, that will get you the most accurate rendition of the subject, if that's what you actually want. Even when shooting film, we often used "warming" filters or other filters to make subtle changes (usually) to life. Whenever we did that, we weren't really trying to perfectly match reality, anyway.

Today with digital there are Warm Cards that do much the same "tweaks". https://www.vortexmediastore.com/pages/warmcards-white-balance-system. Those are used to set a custom white balance with a slight bias, which often looks "better than reality". The set of cards have three levels of warming, at least a couple cards for cooling, one for fluorescent lighting, a gray card to set exposure as well as a pure white (to set unbiased custom WB).

You are also correct, the rear LCD on cameras cannot be trusted to evaluate color rendition. It's not really calibrated and is subject to a wide range of ambient lighting conditions that can strongly influence what you see.

Something else you might want to try is shooting RAW. That gives you the most opportunity to adjust WB after the fact, in post-processing. With RAW you are also working with far more color data than what remains in a JPEG.

When you shoot RAW the camera does in fact record the color settings and applies those to the preview image seen when "looking at" the RAW image on the camera monitor or a computer screen. You actually cannot directly view a RAW file... you are actually seeing a preview of it with the color settings applied.

However, a RAW file allows you to freely change the color settings... temperature and tint. (RAW files don't have in-camera noise reduction, sharpening, etc. applied. Those need to be done in post-processing.)

I definitely do not agree with some other responses that say "all professionals only use Manual". That's BS. In fact, many pros and advanced amateurs use M when they can, when it's the correct mode for the subject matter and situation. But there are many times when another exposure mode is required, does a better job. It might be shutter priority mode to freeze subject movement or deliberately blur parts of the image (see panning technique discussion). Or it might be aperture priority when you want to control depth of field effects... blur a background down or make sure everything near to far is sharp. Or it might be M plus Auto ISO (which is actually another auto exposure mode), which allows both to be controlled. There may even be times when P mode is ideal (I usually only use it when I've been shooting in another mode, but need to take a quick shot or two in radically different lighting, then return to the first mode to continue what I was doing.)

Most pros learn to use all the modes of their cameras and when each is most needed or useful. Except full "Auto" mode. That's too limiting. It's basically a "point n shoot" mode, put in the camera for people transitioning from cameras that offered no means of adjustment. The "scene modes" just as sports, landscape, portrait, etc. are also relatively worthless. Full auto and scene modes do a lot more than control exposure method. They also override things like frame rates, autofocus setup, even whether or not the flash will work and the type of image file you can save to the memory card.

I gotta ask... Are you looking at your image on a calibrated computer monitor? And what software are you using to view them? Does it accurately render color?

I looked at your images in Photoshop on my calibrated computer monitor and found that with some slight tweaks I thought the 2nd image... the one shot in P with Auto WB 1.

I felt both of your shots done in P were a little lower contrast. The Auto shot appeared a bit higher in contrast and saturation.

Below is that 2nd image (P and Auto WB 1) with nothing more than a little added contrast and a curves adjustment in Photoshop. I can't view the original scene, so can't be sure this is an accurate rendition. But to me it looks the "most natural".

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The working photographer (with myself included) have highly developed instincts ... that iconic "10,000 hours of correct practice" ... such that our seat of pants settings are more trustworthy than what AI can (so far) provide. We rely on total manual control, or at most leave ONLY ONE variable up to the camera (so we can easily ride herd on it).

The very idea that an inferior being, the camera, is making unsupervised changes to our own instinctive settings is flat out unacceptable. We are paid to produce and are properly paranoid !

Im obliged here to toss out a very hearty ROTFLMFAO for the widespread inane amateurish notion that "P" mode means "Professional" mode.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

In 'Auto' mode the camera, as in the case of the Ops, defaults to a WB (an auto WB mode) and this is not changeable by the user.

In 'Program' mode the WB is changeable by the user, the result will be different if not at the same setting as the default WB setting in "Auto".

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Yes, I understand this...

But according to the original poster the same WB setting that used by Auto in the first image, was set by user in the second image. Despite that, there was a noticeable difference in the results.

However, now look at the tweaked version of the 2nd image I uploaded. Compare it to what the OP uploaded. It's warmer or "richer", if you will. Yet I made no changes to color at all.

All I did was change contrast and curves. Deepened the blacks, lightened the whites, opened up the mid tones without losing detail in shadows or highlights.

In the end, this also seems to have made the image a little warmer and, to my eye, more natural. Compare it side-by-side with the OP's upload.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

AGAIN - Select the Menu button, then the Photo Shooting Menu, then Set Picture Control. You will find a multitude of adjustments which will do what you want

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

This is quite the awesome still life, beautifully shot 🤍🤍🤍🤍🤍

Canisdirus

If looking for control of...anything...everything...manual is the way to go.

Grahame Loc: Fiji

Looking at and comparing the Exif data for each image, the 'Auto' and 'Program' mode ones it shows the WBs were different. One used a WB with designation Auto1 the other with designation Auto2.

'Picture controls' are all the same as far as I can see. One of my Nikons has two Auto WB modes, there's a significant difference in the results of these dependent upon lighting type.

***For clarity, the Exif examples posted are for the 1st and 2nd (top and middle) of the 3 images posted****

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