Opinion: Automatic camera settings kill creativity and stop you building skills

Canon
Manually created lighting, specific choice of rock and toad, precise placement of focus, makes this more than a simple automatic snapshot (Image credit: Brian Worley)

Automation has come to many things in life, and sometimes it’s helpful, but not always. Having started taking photos years ago with an all manual film camera I recall the intense need to learn much about photography to get a top photo. That knowledge does help me today to decide when to make use of the helpful auto, and when to rely on my own skills. 

Canon EOS cameras introduced many photographers to sharper photos thanks to autofocus. Often these days I hear photographers questioning why their camera is not able to focus on a particular subject. I have to think, would the photographer be able to achieve the desired result without AF? Frequently the answer is no, and that’s not a bad thing, it demonstrates how far the technology has come in the last thirty years.

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Brian Worley

Brian is a freelance photographer and photo tutor, based in Oxfordshire. He has unrivaled EOS DSLR knowledge, after working for Canon for over 15 years, and is on hand to answer all the EOS and photographic queries in Canon-centric magazine PhotoPlus.