When to say YES! to Auto

Can you believe I’ve got a title like, “When to say YES! to Auto” when I’ve got a book titled “Say NO! to Auto?!?” Well, it’s true, I believe there are 3 instances with my dSLR camera that I say it’s OK to turn to AUTO, and I thought it was important to share with my photo loving people! Plus, I haven’t had a Photo Tip Tuesday in WAY too long!

When I first wrote about saying NO to Auto, I was teaching fellow photography enthusiasts to shoot in manual settings. Shooting in Manual=setting your ISO, aperture, & shutter speed so that you have full control over the outcome of the exposure of the image. The “auto” setting or the little green box on some camera’s, is what most people default to using when they first get their camera. It’s easy to see why, because…

It’s safe.

It’s easy.

You don’t have to think.

But when I shared my tips about 3 simple tips to shooting on manual settings, it was all about saying NO to that specific auto setting for good, to produce more beautiful pictures of your family and clients. However, what I didn’t realize is that so many people would come to me asking questions that didn’t apply to those 3 manual settings, and I thought I needed to do some clarifying!

Today, I’m sharing 3 times when you should turn to auto on your camera.

So here we go: When to Say YES! to Auto:

Auto Focus–It’s true, I shoot on Auto Focus all the time! When I first started teaching my Say NO to Auto workshops a few years ago, this came up a lot, and it never occured to me that I needed to clarify that I DO shoot on auto focus, because most photographers I know DO! Unless you have on a macro lens, and shooting nature (that doesn’t move) up really close, most of us pro photogs shoot on auto focus. So if you’ve been on manual focus and frustrated, flip that switch today, baby, you will be THRILLED with the results! To set your auto focus, look for a switch on your camera lens itself, not the body of the camera. It says “AF/MF” You want “AF” for “auto focus.”
{great beginner lens HERE} By flipping that switch on, it enables the camera to focus on the subject, and it does a dang good job! I talk a lot about focal settings in my second book, Get Focused, but in a nutshell, you select what you want to focus on by picking a focal point inside your camera. Then when you hold your shutter button down, that auto focus kicks in, and sharpens the subject for you!
Auto White Balance–I used to shoot everything on the SHADE white balance setting, because 90% of my photography was in the shade, and that was perfect. Then I’d shoot my kids sports in full sun, or something in my home with overhead lighting, and the white balance was all crazy because I’d forget to change it. I shoot in RAW, so white balance isn’t too much of an issue to adjust in processing, but it’s still my preference to get it right, first. I will switch back and forth from AUTO White Balance to SHADE, but just so everyone knows, there is NO SHAME in Auto White Balance! It says AWB often, and looks like this (changes from camera to camera).
When you don’t want to miss the moment–In teaching my Say NO to Auto workshops, I felt it was very important to emphasize that I’d rather catch the moment, than make sure it was perfectly shot. Just like your piano teacher of yesteryears, I’ll plug the fact that it’s VERY important to practice when you are trying to learn to shoot in manual settings–getting off of Auto. When you are trying to capture cuteness–is not the time to practice. You must practice when you don’t care about the outcome, so that when the time comes for a great shot, you won’t be fiddling with your settings. So for the beginners struggling to LEARN manual, it’s OK to switch back to auto when you are frazzled and just want to capture that cuteness of your child. It’s not the time to learn. Sure, give it an old college try, but don’t beat yourself up for switching back to auto, in order to preserve a memory. It does not mean that you have failed.