Creative Modes: Are they really any good for beginners?

[Designer]

I guess scene modes also help for people who don't want to spend time in Photoshop as well. They seem to do a reasonable job at adjusting levels for any given mode, in camera, so that you don't have to correct them later.

Sure, that makes sense, but after a while the once-beginner realizes the potential improvements that can be made by venturing into manual editing, and for that he should capture as much information as he can by capturing the RAW files. Some no longer bother with JPGs at all, although some of us keep both kinds. If there is a file that I'm not going to edit extensively, I just use the JPG, and if I wish to do a little more editing, I can use the RAW file.

 

[RickD]

The temptation to use them is high, especially when you're starting out with SLR and manual just seems to be a bit too daunting, and even more so when you feel brave enough to experiment with the manual modes and get bad results.... you just wonder if you'll ever get the hang of it. But stick it out and carry on experimenting and you'll get there eventually, it might take, a month, a year, or even several

 

[minicoop1985]

I tried them on my Olympus EVOLT E-450, my first DSLR. Basically, in that camera, all they would do was change saturation. I can see their usefulness for people who don't want to process images themselves or just want to take a photo and be done with it, but they were nothing I couldn't replicate with more control in Lightroom. Then again, they're not designed for people who know how to use Lightroom, so...

I've found that prosumer and up bodies don't tend to have these. I have a feeling that's not going to change, either, unless the trend of Craigslist $100 portrait session "I GOT A DSLR NOW I'M PRO" keeps up.

 

[Wingryder]

I think that is the main issue with creative modes, they are for novices that have no interest in developing their skills as a photographer, but just want to turn out predictable result shooting JPG of their vacation/family snaps. If you want to develop skills and tweak your photos with Lightroom / Photoshop, they would likely be much more trouble than they are worth, introducing too many additional variables.

 

[tecboy]

The create modes are like the bonus features just like the stereo system. You can change the level of bass and tremble, or use the presets like rock, dance, pop, vocal, and etc... Create modes are just a marketing scheme.

 

[407370]

Depends on the camera.

My 13 year old daughter does not compute making things more complicated like manual settings or scene modes on a camera hence she uses her phone for photography and gets what she wants.

My wife has a good point and shoot with modes that she understands and uses the modes to get what she wants.

I use a FUJI superzoom with modes that I can use as a baseline and tweak the settings to get what I want (normally with a commentary of " why does it take you so long to take a picture").

I am never going to own a top end camera but it does not mean I dont want to learn more about photography. In fact I have been on a steep learning curve with my new NOTE 3 phone, it has an incredible camera.

 

[ConradM]

While I shoot manual most of the time I do use the creative mode for B&W, rich tone mono and high contrast mono. This was taken in high contrast mono.



But my a77 still allows full manual when using creative modes. I guess in my case shooting in creative is nice because I can see exactly how the picture will come out through the EVF.

 

[Derrel]

A couple weeks ago I was a total beginner-with the brand new, 5-years-old Fuji S5 Pro camera that I bought new from Scotland back in the fall of 2009. I had never used it but had kept it New In Box, hoping to sell it to some crazy Fujista who just HAD to have one of the last New In Box S5 Pro's available. I had been charging the battery every few months, for years, but had never even mounted a lens on the danged thing, never clicked it once. Anyway...I took it to the Oregon coast and at the end of the day, I saw a guy throwing tennis balls for his dog on the beach, right down by the surf's edge. The sun was really low. The control layout and menus on this Fuji are VERY different to me, so I slapped the thing into what Fuji Calls "Creative Mode", and added + 0.7 exposure comp and got ready to try and get a really cool panning shot of the dog as he ran right into the strongest backlighting caused by the low sun off of the water and wet sand. I set up for 1/100 second and f/22, and since I had a BRAND NEW SENSOR!!! I wasn't worried about the dust spots at f/22!

[see it larger to appreciate it DSCF0084_1-100 sec f22 ISO 320.JPG photo - Derrel photos at pbase.com ] I literally could barely run this camera, it is/was sooooo foreign to me.

 

[chuasam]

Creative Modes aren't creative.
Stay away from them.

 

[kdthomas]

If you have a basic idea of ISO, F stop, shutter speed. Then I say to just put it in manual and play around a lot and look at the bar in the viewfinder (that will tell you if you are under/over exposed, usually). You can always start out in apeture mode so you can get a more basic understating on things with shutter speed and aperture.

Hear, hear ... one of the best decisions I made, as I've been first starting was to shoot strictly in manual mode, and use the exposure meter in the viewfinder. That really showed my mistakes, and I felt like it increased my intuition for the three corners of the triangle. I shot a kids birthday party this last weekend, and I used aperture-priority mode with some success.

 

[imagemaker46]

My creative mode starts in my head.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I don't do modes... seems like some of the things that are supposed to make using a camera easier, don't actually. But then I learned with all manual all mechanical film cameras and that's what I still use; even with my digital camera I'm usually using manual settings.

It does seem like modes are meant to be easier but calling them convoluted seems about right! I did use modes when I started out with a digital camera (because I'd read how hard it would be to shoot manual and Raw). But when I decided to try manual and started shooting Raw (DNG on my camera) I actually found that to be easier for me, it worked better for me than modes. Not necessarily a right or wrong, just different things seem to work for different people.