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I use to ask to photographers… How you choose when to use A,S,P,M ??? Most of them answers “i follow my instinct….”

It is a correct answer for those who understand when to use them. But it’s not the correct answer for newbies like me. Now i know when to use them and i’d like to share with you guys.

Aparture Priority

Use this if you want to maximize your DOF/bokeh in a circumtances. I use this most of the time if i want to maximize my DOF/bokeh. It’s like this, you want to get a very nice bokeh in your pictures. Just turn the camera into aparture priority, and set diafragma to the smallest number in it. for example. i use a 50mm f/1.8 and i want to maximize the DOF/bokeh. It means that you just turn your aparture priority to F1.8.

Remember, the lesser your F is, the more DOF/bokeh you will get & vice versa.

this picture was taken with Nikon D300, 85mm f/1.8, 1/60s

Shutter priority

I usually use shutter priority to make a panning picture or a moving object that i don’t want it to be freezes or vice versa. If I’m not mistaken, the normal human hand shaking is 1/60s. It means that there’s a possibility that your pictures will not be as sharp as it suppose to be if your speed is under 1/60s. With shutter priority mode, you can actually make this simple mistake correct by setting your shutter speed to 1/60s.

For example, on the pic i wanted to make all those people moving. so, i set the shutter priority to 1/6s and let the camera works its magic to set the aparture. The pictures was taken with Nikon D300, 10mm, f/4, iso 640.

Manual mode

I use this mode when i shoot an event or any other stuff that needs this mode. In my nikon D300, when i use this manual mode, there’s a tiny little bar that tells whether the pic is going to be over expose or under. this manual mode is important when the difference between shadow and highlight of a picture has a lot difference rather than using shutter priority or aparture priority that only look for a contrast in an object.

The pictures above was taken with manual mode, D300, f/4, 1/60s. I used Manual mode to get a richer color and to avoid over expose on the foreground object (leaf) cause im using my SB-800 in the pic

Programme mode

Use this when you just want to shoot without thinking aparture or shutter speed.

I already edited the pic there. I use P mode in this pic cause it’s a daylight ad i’d like to make an effort out of it. With this P mode, the camera will give its best result in sharpness, color, and everything.

Use programme mode in day light where the sun is really shining the world

I hope this article helps you to choose when to use this / that mode….

if you find it useful, please leave a comment

Cheers,

Faizal Azfar Al-Edrus