Take noticeably better photos while the camera still sets the exposure: focus where you mean to, fix too-bright and too-dark scenes with one control, and use light and distance to your advantage. Works on any camera, including your phone.
Written by Dani Watson, founder of CapturEDU
LessonLesson 1 of 8 · 15 min · 5 reading, 10 doing
The short version
Full Auto makes every decision for you. P (program) still sets the exposure, but lets you change the few things that make the biggest difference. For this module, use P if your camera has it.
This module is about quick wins: small habits that make your photos better straight away, while the camera still does the hard part. You won't set a shutter speed or an aperture by hand until Module 9. First you need a mode that helps you without getting in your way.
What Auto decides for you
In full Auto, usually a green camera icon, a green rectangle or the word AUTO on the dial, the camera makes every choice:
Exposure. How bright the photo is, by choosing the shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Modules 5 to 8 cover each one.
Focus. Which part of the scene is sharp. Most cameras pick the nearest thing, or a face if they find one.
Flash. Whether to fire it. Many cameras with a built-in flash pop it up by themselves when the light is low.
Colour. How warm or cool the picture looks (Module 14).
Most of the time, Auto gets these right. Modern cameras are very good at guessing. The trouble is that it is still a guess. The camera doesn't know what your photo is about. It doesn't know you care about the dog and not the fence behind it, or that the snow should look white.
P: the same brain, with your hands on it
P stands for program. The camera still picks a shutter speed and aperture that give a good brightness, so you can shoot just as quickly. The difference is that P hands back a few controls that full Auto often locks:
What you can change
Full Auto
P
Brighter or darker (±)
Often locked
Yes (Lesson 4)
Where it focuses
Usually the camera's choice
Yours (Lesson 3)
Flash
May fire by itself
Usually only if you raise it or switch it on
Shutter speed and aperture pair
Camera's choice
You can shift it on most cameras
Exposure
Camera
Camera
The last row is the important one. In P, you are not doing the exposure maths. You are only steering.
A Canon dial. P sits between Tv and the green rectangle, which is full Auto.
A Sony dial. P is next to the green full Auto position.
Another layout: AUTO, P, A, S and M, plus scene (SCN) and art (ART) modes.
Finding P on your camera
Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, OM System, Pentax: turn the mode dial to P.
Fujifilm without a mode dial: set the shutter speed dial and the aperture ring (or aperture setting) to A. That is P by another name, as Module 1 showed.
Compacts: on the mode dial, or in a mode menu. A few simple compacts have only Auto. Most of this module still works; you may not be able to move the focus point or use ±.
Phones: the normal Photo mode already works like P. The phone sets the exposure, and you can tap to focus and slide the brightness. Keep it there; Pro mode can wait.
Program shift, in one minute
On most cameras with a main dial, turning it in P changes the shutter speed and aperture together while the brightness stays the same. If the camera chose 1/250 s at f/5.6, turning the dial might give 1/500 s at f/4 or 1/125 s at f/8. The shutter is open half as long, the hole is twice as big: the same amount of light. This is called program shift. You don't need it yet. It's just why the numbers move when you turn the dial in P, and why that's nothing to worry about. Module 9 uses it properly.
Some cameras undo the shift after each photo or when the camera goes to sleep; others keep it and show a small mark, such as P*, while it's active.
What P is not
P doesn't stand for professional, and it won't make a photo better on its own. It gives you the same photo as Auto until you change something. The changes are the quick wins in Lessons 2 to 6.
Common mistakes
Leaving the dial on a scene mode (a running figure, a flower, a mountain) from last time. Scene modes are another kind of Auto; check the dial before every outing.
Raising the flash for every indoor photo. In P, try without it first. Module 2 showed you how to hold steady in low light.
Leaving ± set from a previous shoot. P remembers it. Lesson 4 shows where to look.
Quick checkYou press ± on your camera in full Auto and nothing happens. What should you do?
Turn the dial to P. Many cameras lock ± in full Auto. In P it always works, and the camera still sets the exposure for you.
Tip
If your camera has a built-in flash, push it down in P. It stays closed until you raise it again, so it will never surprise you mid-photo.
Try it now · 10 minutes
Find full Auto and P on your camera. If it has no mode dial, find where the modes live in the menu, or set the dials to A.
In full Auto, photograph a cup on a table near a window.
Switch to P and take the same photo from the same spot. Compare the two: they should look almost the same.
Still in P, turn the main dial two clicks and watch the shutter speed and aperture move together. Take the photo again. The brightness should match the first two.
Press ±. Did it work in P? Did it work in Auto? Note the answer on the Field Card.
