Why I Only Use Manual Mode for Street Photography

I wasn’t long ago when I preached Aperture Priority as my walk-around mode for street photography and Manual for situations where the light was constant. Things have changed. I no longer believe Aperture Priority mode is for me. Despite the amount of work and attention that goes into using Manual Mode for absolutely everything, including all my street photography, it’s well worth the extra effort.

What’s changed my mind?

I Found Myself Second-Guessing the Minimum Shutter Speed Too Often

I realized over time that Super Aperture Priority Mode just doesn’t cut it. As much as it’s a much-needed amendment to any camera system that boasts the feature, it has proven itself to be unreliable in times when the shutter speed dipped lower than what was acceptable. Granted, this didn’t happen all the time but it was a factor enough times that I always found myself checking to see what the minimum shutter speed was clocking in at. So much so that I felt I was wasting precious moments second-guessing the results. What I ended up doing was switching to Manual Mode in such times and dealing with the lighting straight on even if it meant making multiple adjustments in short periods.

My Other Camera Doesn’t Have Super Aperture Priority Mode

To top things off, my Sony ZV-1 doesn’t have Super Aperture Priority, so I ended up using Manual Model exclusively on this camera for street photography and everything else. Then I found it quite disturbing going back to my other Sony and messing about in Aperture Priority. It was just easier to deal with the world of street photography in Manual Mode. Zero regrets so far!

Manual Mode Falls in Line With My Philosophy of Intentionality

The longer I practice photography, the more intentional my work becomes. Simply put, I would rather make 100 percent of the decisions (or close to it!) and take the rare hit rather than suffer blurry pictures in tricking lighting situations. I’m more than happy these days to make more adjustments and be content that I’m likely going to get it right. Leaving it up to my camera in Aperture Priority just doesn’t cut it for me anymore.

Let There Be Auto ISO

There is one very useful auto setting that is a great companion in Manual Mode, and that is AUTO ISO. More often than not, I’ll be in Auto ISO if I’m walking around in changing light much as I would when I used to use Aperture Priority. The main difference for me is this: I only have to make one additional decision for the dials, and that’s the shutter speed. So while I may change up the aperture frequently, if I’m not looking to blow out the background for portraits or other reasons, I’ll let my aperture sit somewhere between f4 and f6.3 (maybe f8 on a super bright day). Then I only need to set my shutter speed to my preferred minimum of either 1/250 or 1/500 for my general walk around settings.

It gets easier if I’m dealing with constant lighting. I set the ISO to whatever works and just use the Shutter Speed to control the exposure. This is fantastic way to capture sunrises and sunsets and for creating silhouettes, for example.

Manual Mode Is King

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. If you own a mirrorless camera, there is absolutely no need to use the auto or semi-auto modes. You don’t even need to understand the Exposure Triangle to see how changing the settings in Manual affects the exposure. I’ve taught several photographers how to use Manual Mode, most of these lessons were given during sunrise when you can see how fantastic Manual is compared to the other modes. Seeing is truly believing. Once you fully embrace Manual Mode for your street photography, you’ll lose all interest in the other modes…except to maybe demonstrate how great Manual is compared to the others.

Note to Naysayers

I know Manual Mode isn’t for everyone and that there are situations where the other modes may work for you. I don’t subscribe to too many absolutes and I certainly don’t want to preach there’s only ONE TRUE WAY TO DO THINGS. Do what works for you, right?

Granted, Manual Mode can be greatly improved on still if the camera manufacturers set their minds to it. For example, what about the ability to have Auto for every setting while in Manual mode? This would actually make the semi-auto modes obsolete. Imagine setting your shutter speed and you have Auto ISO and Auto Aperture? Or any combo thereof? A few extra tweaks to Manual and you could remove much of the outdated architecture on a mirrorless system. There would just be one master program mode where the user could completely customize the picture-taking experience. Better yet, what if an AI examined my shooting style and automatically changed the camera for me based on some sort of light meter combined with subject detection? The sky’s the limit.

Until then, I’ll be slugging it out in Manual Mode, sans regrets.