Auto or manual - digital camera

[pw]

Very interesting reading.

So do most of you use Aperture Priority most of the time when out in the wild (hiking, skiing)? It seems unless I want to focus on a subject in the foreground and blur the background (which is rare for me), I should be shooting with large depth of field (highest aperture on my camera is F8). But b/c of this, the shutter speed is slower than say F2.8? Therefore, use a tripod? Am I sort of getting this?
Thanks

That's about right. I think very generally speaking, use a wider aperture for things like flower shots and portraits in order to have only a small area of focus that highlights the subject, smaller aperture for landscapes in order to maximize the area of the picture that is in focus. Use a slower shutter speed (small aperture) to do things like blurring water or maybe flowers blowing around in the wind. This probably gets into the area of neutral density filters, which may not be available for your camera.


Here is an example of very narrow depth of field in a flower photo with both foreground and background blurred (and also, that website has some great stuff)

http://whytake.net/Inspired/2/13024" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;