Why You SHOULD be Using Aperture Priority Mode More!

Please be aware of scammers below this video in the comments (and all videos going forward for that matter). They’re posing as myself claiming prizes have been won and to contact them etc. I have blocked them but they keep coming back. Really sorry about this guys but I don’t have too much control over it! Thanks for all the emails from those informing me of these comments (very helpful) and if you could report these comments that’d be mega. Cheers 🙏🏼

I would think that hot white sky would call for a filter to help you capture the foreground colors?

A good few years ago I was advised to use AP all the time for wildlife photography, which was my main interest. It never really worked very well and eventually I went to M with auto ISO which worked a treat. Moving into landscape I carried on at first in the same vain, but very quickly turned off the auto ISO so everything was fully manual. Watching this video made me think, and what you said about always faffing about changing only exposure, and I realised, that is exactly what I've been doing. Not had a chance yet to give AP another go, but as soon as I do, I will. Thanks for another great video. 👌

This has been very helpful and fun too! Than you Henry.

I shoot full manual 99% of the time, occasionally going to auto ISO if I'm in very changable light. I can see that Aperture Priority would work ok for landscape photography but for me its essentially useless for most other types of photography. This is simply because unless what you are shooting is in plenty of light, your camera will select a shutter speed that is simply too slow. Forget AP if you shoot sports, wildlife, events, etc because you will leave with plenty of perfectly exposed shots all of which are blurred! Honestly, shutter priority is probably more useful to those photographers wanting to shoot anything moving. I'd rather take the hit on higher noise using auto ISO by selecting the shutter speed and aperture I need than risk blurred shots. I can fix ( to a point ) noisy photos, I can't fix blurred ones. Its odd that most beginners moving away from auto and taking more control of their cameras tend to be advised to use Aperture Priority. I'd say this is a disservice to those trying to get better images, they'd likely get similar, if not worse results than they got when they shot auto. Thats not to say AP has no merits but realistically its limited in its usefulness in my opinion. With the advent of WYSIWYG in modern mirrorless cameras I dont really see much reason to use any semi auto mode. It made some sense in the DSLR and Film days but there really isnt any guesswork or even a need to rely on the cameras built in meter anymore. Just my five cents 😋

APPRECIATE THIS VIDEO! I'm basically a Manual Mode kind of Nikon photographer, but I can see why Aperture Priority can ROCK at times! :) Thanks again...

Hi Henry. By accident my camera was in AP mode from the day before took a sun rise shot as you say straight out of the bag then changed to manual for the rest of the sun rise 20 or so shots. The one straight out of the bag in my opinion is probably the best un edited photo I have ever taken. Don't think it will ever be repeated again. Thanks for sharing 👍

great eye! I have to stop being lazy , put my phone away and get my Canon out.

Auto Exposure Lock is quite crucial to using Aperture Priority as well. If it's not engaged, the camera is going to keep taking a meter reading while you're recomposing and use the reading of the scene you end up pointing your camera at, which is obviously not what you want.

Great video. Can you explain to me why you set your iso eg iso 64 on a sunny day. Thanks

First class. Thank you

Super video. First class

Definitely use aperture priority for 90% of my landscape photography. Use manual when working with moving water. Hi from Vancouver Island, Canada. 🙋🏻‍♂️

Does anyone want a kidney?? I am selling one to buy myself a Nikon Z9.😶😶

Henry, I know you shot this video a year ago. But I'm just now getting around to watching it. I am an amateur, I repeat AMATEUR landscape photographer. My daughter is a professional photographer. Yes she got me involved with photography. The thing is she is a portrait photographer, not a landscape photographer. She taught me to take pictures in the manual modes so I don't have to use auto mode all of the time. I use Shutter priority when photographing my Grandson's soccer games. But I've never really used aperture priority that much. When shooting trees, bushes, or other types of landscape I've automatically went straight to manual mode. You've given me a reason to learn how to shoot in aperture priority. Thank you.

Another excellent video.
I always ask people to think of the total dollar value of their camera and lenses and then remind them that each dollar spent represents decades of scientific and engineering development in the design and production of their gear. To not take full advantage of every feature the camera offers is both foolish and wasteful. Anything that fascilitates getting the best photo possible for personal enjoyment or for your client.

I don't like what it does in high dynamic range scenes. Also doesn't help when your doing exposure blending. And no good for creative side of things with water. And for the sake of changes you do need to make in aperture priority, you may as well be in manual

I don't regret or eel bad about aperture mode.Saves a ot of tie hen shooting a wedding for me

This was some really great advice, especially liked the mention of the shadow from the rock adding another dimension to the photograph. I really need to think about such things more often and will definitely be taking this advice. Thanks Henry.

Conor McGregor?

i totally understand that "other" photographers bang on about manual mode but not once have i been asked if i shot an image in manual or aperture priority or shutter priority haha nobody cares, literally no one

enjoy your videos and knowledge, straight to the point, no messing around ...

Aperture priority is very useful, as long as you keep an eye on minimum shutter speed, I shoot AP with -1/3 stop exposure compensation to preserve highlight detail, like you used to with slide film.
I don’t use auto-ISO though, it’s far too random and usually gives a ridiculously high ISO setting.
I use full manual where you need to override the camera’s basic instincts, like pictures of the moon, otherwise you get a bright white blob with no detail 😉

First, another nice video, thank you! I usually shoot in the mode that allows me to control the most important part(s) of the exposure for the subject matter. In landscape photography it's almost always, as you suggest, aperture priority for me . If I'm using a 3 stop ND filter, then I'm going to manual mode. If I'm photographing my kiddo doing an indoor sport then I'm likely shooting shutter priority, letting the camera pick aperture an/or auto-iso.

Very helpful. Thanks

I like your honesty about photography!

Yep - I always use Aperture Priority & don't shoot any fast-moving subjects. If I'm using my vintage lenses, I use Manual everything, setting aperture first then speed and ISO after that (on my Sony A7 mirrorless where the sensor is so clean you can whack up the ISO freely).

90% of the time I shoot in aperture priority.

MHO, but there is plenty of time to make all those adjustments in landscape photography, and I enjoy the process. I see zero advantage moving to a semi manual mode in landscape photography and letting my mind get lazy. Slow down is a mantra oft repeated in landscape, and I believe Manual mode lends itself more to that process than any other mode.
Wildlife on the other hand definitely benefits from Aperture or Shutter priority.
But in the end, it is the photographer's choice, and there really isn't a "wrong" mode to choose.

Most of the time (apart from moving water) I shoot in AP too and I love it... Although I have been known to forget to switch to manual for a Pano or Focus Stack only to get to lightroom and be trying to blend images with slightly different exposures! 🤦😂

It's good to use ap but sometimes I wish I'd backed the shot up with a manual exposure..have to start doing that perhaps ..

If you have been using manual all along then the question surely is why you would now use aperture priority ? What shots does it enable you to get that manual doesn't ?.

This is a genuine question as i really don't understand why some professionals are recommending this move?

To my mind it seems to be just a convenience thing - or am i missing something ? So you climb a hill carrying quite a bit of gear , set up the tripod and make sure that composition is right but then advocate aperture over manual because it saves you work?

Anyone who has used manual a lot can instinctively reasonably guestimate the settings on a camera to achieve a correct exposure and indeed i always set my camera up as i get out of the car and take 1 or even 2 shots to check it. i always advocate manual because i can photograph a bird against a hedge and then as it flies up into the bright sky - the bird will be lit the same even if the light on the background changes.

If you shoot a panorama then aperture will change the light as you scan round and you end up with an inconsistent shot and the sky colour and grass colour can change.

Some of the fun in photography is learning how to do this stuff yourself and learning how to get an image - its not always about the photograph that will sit on your camera hard drive and never see the light of day. Why would you you dumb the whole process down and risk ending up with images that are not as consistent?

I shoot mainly woodland photography and once the camera is on the tripod I use aperture priority for portrait work I always use manual it's just what ever works in my book.

Always use AP with setting to fast and min. 100 max 1200 asa on my Rx10lV works for landscape and bird photography

I never ever could get comfortable with Manual and the reasons you mentioned here are my experience too. I guess I'm not the control freak.

Wooow

Been using cameras since the 60s and was very keen to progress from an all-manual camera to one with the option of aperture priority! Never used manual mode much since then: I stay in aperture priority and keep an eye on shutter speed while keeping ISO on a setting allowing suitable eperture and speed options. I enjoyed your comments about having all these options and programmes on cameras but not using them - I must try out a few more!

I often grab an automatic and AP at the start of a trip. It gets shots in the bag, and a reference point for any other adjustments I might want to try. But the tech is generally so good that both serve me well as an amateur.

what model Z body you using? Z7ii?

Thanks for the video Henry. I shoot’s lot of wildlife - which in Australia is predominantly birds - and which for me means Shutter Priority set at around 1/2000 sec.
Please tell me this. What do you do with all your photos? I have 8000+ and they’re all my children so I can’t simply dump them.

Haven't used Aperture or Shutter priority for years. ISO set to AUTO, then I choose the speed and aperture I want. Each to their own.

I'm either in aperture or manual mode. A lot of the time I'll go with aperture mode first and depending on the light situation I'll switch over to manual for full control when needed. I prefer to slightly underexpose my images to begin with just to protect the highlights. When I was first learning photography I was actually taught to start with shutter priority. I think people can overthink which setting they use with that pressure to use manual mode. It's useful to know and understand how each setting works, but use whatever is comfortable and works for you. Love the photography on a bright sunny day. We've had some gorgeous weather here recently.

Great video I’m glad that you made this one because I always feel that with AP I’m cheating which I don’t feeel like Serious photographer, could you go into the filter side of it as well please using AP cheers

Rock on the Right, Vista on the Left and Photographer in the Middle, alway enjoy your energy. Bottle it and come out with an Energy Drink for us lol, cheers from Vancouver Canada

what metering mode was in use......beautiful photos

I think the only use manual goes back to film days or very early digital where the systems were not as good ! as you said thats part of the reason y cameras are expensive the technology has come on leaps n bounds experiment with it all !! thats the beauty of digital huge card for multiples of shots and you can delete in a instant ! great video man . Is the blujay nearly complete?

Last year I went on a daily trip with my cameras. From the 365 results, I ended up with these percent: Aperturepriority 63%, manuel 35%, shutterpriority 1,5% and only 2 pictures (0,5%) shot in programmode auto. 🤓

I literally cannot get bored of the sheep. It's still hilarious. I laugh every time.

I call conditions like that BCB. Bright, Crisp & Boring.
However, its perfect for infrared!