OK – I have had this Canon T6 for about 2 months and I have been learning many new things every day. Started with the basics of the exposure triangle and how they interact with each other – controls on the camera – lenses – filters – etc. Then tackled some more advanced things for me like the rules – exposure compensation – white balance – etc. On top of all that I watched videos, read articles and even checked out the exif data on photos I liked but I could not mimic the quality of the pics I investigated. I had started out in full auto mode and quickly realized that was going to get me nowhere so I jumped full in to M mode. It has been fun but I was still not getting what I wanted. Even with adjusting the white balance my pics looked dull or washed out. Eash time I tackled a new topic I read, watch videos and shoot many pics to try out the setting - I think I may need a new camera before I learn how to use this one effectively. (smile) Then today my new assignment was to start using some of the creative modes which I always assumed were just glorified "automatic" modes like the full auto mode. But I decided that I needed to learn what they had to offer too so I chose the “close up” mode and WOW! That mode lets you make very vivid colors pop in your photo – one of the things I wanted to do. I am very excited to learn what all the creative modes are capable of producing but it does bring a couple questions to mind. So my questions are these… do you more experienced photographers use the creative modes when you shoot? And… can you recreate a pic in the M mode that looks like it was done in creative mode? I am trying to figure out if the M mode can compete with the creative modes if a photographer is more experienced / knowledgeable. By the way I have gained a lot of knowledge from reading the posts on UHH and just wanted to thank all of you that share with us newbies.

OK – I have had this Canon T6 for about 2 months and I have been learning many new things every day. Started with the basics of the exposure triangle and how they interact with each other – controls on the camera – lenses – filters – etc. Then tackled some more advanced things for me like the rules – exposure compensation – white balance – etc. On top of all that I watched videos, read articles and even checked out the exif data on photos I liked but I could not mimic the quality of the pics I investigated. I had started out in full auto mode and quickly realized that was going to get me nowhere so I jumped full in to M mode. It has been fun but I was still not getting what I wanted. Even with adjusting the white balance my pics looked dull or washed out. Eash time I tackled a new topic I read, watch videos and shoot many pics to try out the setting - I think I may need a new camera before I learn how to use this one effectively. (smile) Then today my new assignment was to start using some of the creative modes which I always assumed were just glorified "automatic" modes like the full auto mode. But I decided that I needed to learn what they had to offer too so I chose the “close up” mode and WOW! That mode lets you make very vivid colors pop in your photo – one of the things I wanted to do. I am very excited to learn what all the creative modes are capable of producing but it does bring a couple questions to mind. So my questions are these… do you more experienced photographers use the creative modes when you shoot? And… can you recreate a pic in the M mode that looks like it was done in creative mode? I am trying to figure out if the M mode can compete with the creative modes if a photographer is more experienced / knowledgeable. By the way I have gained a lot of knowledge from reading the posts on UHH and just wanted to thank all of you that share with us newbies.

OK – I have had this Canon T6 for about 2 months and I have been learning many new things every day. Started with the basics of the exposure triangle and how they interact with each other – controls on the camera – lenses – filters – etc. Then tackled some more advanced things for me like the rules – exposure compensation – white balance – etc. On top of all that I watched videos, read articles and even checked out the exif data on photos I liked but I could not mimic the quality of the pics I investigated. I had started out in full auto mode and quickly realized that was going to get me nowhere so I jumped full in to M mode. It has been fun but I was still not getting what I wanted. Even with adjusting the white balance my pics looked dull or washed out. Eash time I tackled a new topic I read, watch videos and shoot many pics to try out the setting - I think I may need a new camera before I learn how to use this one effectively. (smile) Then today my new assignment was to start using some of the creative modes which I always assumed were just glorified "automatic" modes like the full auto mode. But I decided that I needed to learn what they had to offer too so I chose the “close up” mode and WOW! That mode lets you make very vivid colors pop in your photo – one of the things I wanted to do. I am very excited to learn what all the creative modes are capable of producing but it does bring a couple questions to mind. So my questions are these… do you more experienced photographers use the creative modes when you shoot? And… can you recreate a pic in the M mode that looks like it was done in creative mode? I am trying to figure out if the M mode can compete with the creative modes if a photographer is more experienced / knowledgeable. By the way I have gained a lot of knowledge from reading the posts on UHH and just wanted to thank all of you that share with us newbies.

OK – I have had this Canon T6 for about 2 months and I have been learning many new things every day. Started with the basics of the exposure triangle and how they interact with each other – controls on the camera – lenses – filters – etc. Then tackled some more advanced things for me like the rules – exposure compensation – white balance – etc. On top of all that I watched videos, read articles and even checked out the exif data on photos I liked but I could not mimic the quality of the pics I investigated. I had started out in full auto mode and quickly realized that was going to get me nowhere so I jumped full in to M mode. It has been fun but I was still not getting what I wanted. Even with adjusting the white balance my pics looked dull or washed out. Eash time I tackled a new topic I read, watch videos and shoot many pics to try out the setting - I think I may need a new camera before I learn how to use this one effectively. (smile) Then today my new assignment was to start using some of the creative modes which I always assumed were just glorified "automatic" modes like the full auto mode. But I decided that I needed to learn what they had to offer too so I chose the “close up” mode and WOW! That mode lets you make very vivid colors pop in your photo – one of the things I wanted to do. I am very excited to learn what all the creative modes are capable of producing but it does bring a couple questions to mind. So my questions are these… do you more experienced photographers use the creative modes when you shoot? And… can you recreate a pic in the M mode that looks like it was done in creative mode? I am trying to figure out if the M mode can compete with the creative modes if a photographer is more experienced / knowledgeable. By the way I have gained a lot of knowledge from reading the posts on UHH and just wanted to thank all of you that share with us newbies.

Ansel Adams said "Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships." He worked in black and white, but the concept still applies to digital. You have the ability to manipulate more than just tone - you can do hue saturation and luminance, contrast, micro contrast, structure, etc.

The problem with setting custom modes in camera is that if you decide to do a different treatment on the image, and the settings you used discarded image information that you might need for the different treatment, you won't be able to do much with the image.

This is the reason why many photographers choose to record images as raw files, and make the creative choices in post processing. Editing a raw file can give you the "pop" you are looking for, or in the case of scenes with highly saturated colors, you can tone it down a bit, without any negative consequences.

The answer to your question is, then, photographers who desire complete control over the creative process will not concentrate on the exposure method or scene settings, and just ensure that all the image information is recorded so that it maximizes the creative possibilities in post processing.

This is an example of a dull image out of the camera, and what happens when you apply creative interpretations in post processing.