I joined the Photography Tips n' Tricks for Beginners FB page https://www.facebook.com/groups/phototipsntricks , and  found this post which is one of the most sensible, grounded and hopeful posts I have found  to date. I  very much wanted to share this visitors to this site, and  I am grateful  Scotty Thorkelston gave me permission to reproduce his piece in full.

Rushing to use Manual Settings mode can ruin the learning experience and enjoyment of photography.

There is NO reason to be in a hurry to use Manual Settings mode. Modern cameras generally do an EXCELLENT job of recording good exposures in Automatic mode (think of cell phone shots, which are almost always taken in Automatic mode). For general, average types of shots, Manual Settings mode will provide no better photo than Automatic or Aperture Priority modes will.

A LOT of people may say, “You have to use Manual, or you’re not a photographer.” If they were more knowledgeable about photography, they would know better.

Being new to a particular camera, or to photography in general is rather like JUST haven gotten a license to learn to drive one day and TRYING to operate and control a fully loaded 18-wheeler (a lorry) the next day. It’s just TOO complicated to succeed. Trying to learn everything about your camera AND about photography all at once is simply overwhelming. It will also make it much harder to obtain a pleasing shot that is correctly exposed (neither too dark, nor too bright), thereby likely frustrating and certainly discouraging you. None of us began with algebra. We started with learning the numbers, then addition, subtraction, fractions, percentages and so on – working our way to more complex mathematics over time. Due to the complexity of photography as a whole, it is best to use the same approach.

When starting out, it is strongly suggested that you leave the camera in Automatic mode and just concentrate on learning about composition, which is more than enough to begin with. Composition includes MANY things and concepts. It will take time to learn. What to include in a shot and what to leave out. Where to place things in a shot, relative to each other. What height to shoot from. Which direction to shoot from, to have the best looking lighting of the scene and much, much more.

When you eventually become comfortable with composition and like how your shots look, THEN Depth of Field can be studied. When you focus at a given distance, some things closer to you and some things further away will also be in reasonably good focus. This amount of space is known as the Depth of Field. DoF is affected by three variables – how far it is from the camera to the point of focus (the subject of the shot), what the focal length setting of the lens is and what the aperture setting of the lens is.

 Greater distance to subject, and/or shorter focal length, and/or narrower/smaller aperture (larger ƒ-numbers), increase Depth of Field. Generally, larger Depth of Field is desirable for Landscape type shots, while smaller (shallow) Depth of Field is often preferred for Portrait shots.

When Depth of Field is understood, it would be a suitable time to move from automatic settings to Aperture Priority mode (Aperture Value with Canon).

You will control the aperture, while the camera takes care of shutter speed and ISO, to provide correct exposure. After practicing this mode for a while, Shutter Priority can be tried, IF you can find compositions that include movement. Shutter Priority works just as Aperture Priority, except you choose the shutter speed and the camera controls aperture and ISO for correct exposure. Faster shutter speed is used when you want to “freeze” motion. For example, that of a running animal or a moving vehicle. Slower shutter speed is used when you want to blur motion. Example, to create a sort of fog-like look to a waterfall or rapids in a river.

When comfortable with Aperture Priority and optionally, Shutter Priority, it is time to learn about the Exposure Triangle. Aperture affects how much light gets to the sensor in a given amount of time. Shutter speed determines that length of time. The larger the aperture, the more light that can reach the sensor in a given amount of time, but that is NOT the PURPOSE of aperture – it is just a side-effect. ISO is an amplification of the electrical signal from the sensor to the image processor in the camera. In simple terms, the exposure triangle shows the relationship between the three variables – ISO, aperture and shutter speed.

You will see how the three variables must be balanced, to provide reasonable exposure (neither too dark, nor too light). You will also see how adjusting any one of the three requires adjustment of one or both of the others, to maintain the balance and therefore, correct exposure.

Once you understand the need for balance of the variables and how to achieve it, you are ready to confidently use Manual Settings mode.

If you study and follow the steps of the PDF file related to using Manual Settings mode, you’ll be all set. While getting used to setting and controlling all three variables, it is suggested that you use a tripod, which allows you to take your time. It is also recommended that you shoot scenes without movement, so no people, animals, vehicles, or flowing water. You’ll find it much easier to contend with movement, once you have practiced first with static scenes.

Again, do not be in a hurry to get to Manual settings mode. For general shots, the mode does not make photos any better than automatic mode does. For most general photos, Aperture Priority should be your go-to choice. While you certainly CAN use Manual Settings mode if you choose to, it is only NEEDED for certain special shooting situations. Even very experienced professional photographers will mostly use Aperture Priority over Manual Settings mode.

A caveat to note: in Automatic mode, at least SOME cameras will not let you change the focus point (left/right/up/down). This MAY result in the camera not choosing the correct element of a composition to focus on. In Aperture Priority (or shutter or manual) mode, you will be able to choose between the various focus points offered by the camera.

I have excluded any of the so-called “scene modes” that some entry-level cameras offer. These are basically Automatic mode, but with the camera biased toward some particular type of shot. They should work fine if you want to try them before progressing to Aperture Priority or other modes.

I also exclude P (program mode). This is an automatic mode that lets you adjust shutter or aperture to different combinations than the camera has selected, while keeping the values in combinations suitable to obtaining reasonable exposure. Since essentially the same thing is accomplished with Aperture or Shutter modes, P-mode seems unnecessary.

Credit:  Information provided by Scotty T. from Alberta, Canada. “Avid amateur” hobbyist photographer and technical researcher, Scotty has been instructing and tutoring others for over 30 years, on a variety of subjects. Over 10 years of “hands-on” photographic experience – more than 80 thousand photos. Drawing from knowledge gained in over 50 photography courses and more than 3000 photography related instructional videos, presented by over 100 photo professionals.