Exposure is the single most important factor in photography – followed closely by composition. I mean, you can line up the greatest composition in the world, but if you’ve under or overexposed the image beyond saving, that composition means nothing. This is precisely why I don’t get the overbearing – dare I say sycophantic – obsession with manual exposure.
I will hold my hands up and say that the photography press has perpetuated the myth that ‘going manual’ is somehow a serious photographer’s right of passage. And goodness knows, the way it gets talked about, you’d think by flicking the switch you’d immediately ascend, be blessed by the photography greats, and return to Earth as a walking-talking light meter.
