P mode

I was watching a Joe Buissink video on wedding photography, this is a guy who charges far in excess of £10000 a wedding, he casually through in that he puts his camera on P mode for every shoot, he put it down to getting old and forgetting his settings, then he said P for professional which got a good laugh.
personally I favour A mode as I like to gauge what's in focus or not, my throw away line would be A for amateur 
I do use M mode now and again but never use S or P modes, I wondered what you folks out there used and why ???

When I first got my D70 all I used was P mode. Today wit it or my D5000 I use mostly A mode. Once in a while I fool with M mode. But no doubt in my mind the guy can get away with P mode. He take's photo's people want to buy. Exposure needs to be good and composition is all important. Most people like what they like and don't know squat about worked over photo's, nor could they care. Good photo's exposed well with good subject matter and composition sell well. I remember Herb Keppler once writing that you can take photo's for people or for other photographer's. Other photographer's are a hard sell, shoot for people!

"A" mode 90% of the time for me and manual for about 9% and 1% Shutter priority. P mode will work just as well on most camera systems because you can always adjust either the shutter speed or the aperture when using it. It's not much different really. I use aperture because I tend to slap my APSC camera on f-8.0 and leave it there the majority of the time. I only change it if I want to change DOF. M43 cameras I set to f-5.6 and use it the same way.

In my little home studio I use Manual mode.  For TTL flash and scenic shots I use Program.  For everything thing else a mix of Aperture and Shutter priority.  With my mirrorless camera I "shift" this thinking a little.  Instead of Program mode, one of the Scenes.  Instead of a priority mode, more often Program.  But still stick with Manual in the studio.

Kelly Cook

Change is a scary thing. I always use Manual and M only. I started when there were no other options. Now I just need to feel in control.

Yeah my D300 has not seen any other Mode than manual for over 3 years now. In my case old age means I forget there are other modes to use. I like the control over the exposures over the other modes. In the other modes with my camera, I saw that it over exposed to me, so you had to fiddle with another setting to get it right, so to me why not just do it one time with a standard change in either the Aperture, or Shutter. For me it is an old case of that is how I learned to shoot, and it has worked for me before there was auto anything.

Thanks for the replies so far

A) P Mode? OMG. I can't imagine.

Don Fischer wrote: Good photo's exposed well with good subject matter and composition sell well.

2) I'm going to disagree. Photos that make an emotional connection sell well. They don't have to be technically adept.

  As a beginner I tried all the creative modes and learning especially M mode. I did a few weddings and I've found out that "Av" mode works very well and chances are that I don't miss a shot because I am looking down readjusting my camera. And than came "P" mode.....I found this mode exceptionally in a situation at the wedding or a party when you shoot wide open and you hear something happening behind you, you turn around and find a group of people doing something fun. In Av mode you need to change the aperture on the fly to get everybody in focus. In P mode you let go your shutter and voila...now your aperture is picked up by the camera which has a tendency to pick the smaller aperture possible to get everyting in focus.  Sometime in dim light this might not work.
  In P mode you can change aperture/speed/ISO combination and use exposure lock.It sound almost like M mode, but the it takes a little practice to manage it.  If not, the camera will pick its own version of Aperture/Speed. ISO will not change.  I normally set my ISO little higher so the camera will not pick 2.8 automatically or to low of a shutter speed. I don't care if shutter speed is to fast.  I use "P" in conjunction with exposure compensation(control wheel in the back of the camera). Focus and metering is set at back button and shutter button I use for exposure lock(1/2 press). All depends on your style and what works for you better. The most important thing is to get the shot you want and when you want. Clients will not care if it was done in Av, P, M os Tv!
  For flash use I only use "M" mode so I can control ambient light easier via shutter speed.

Some interesting replies, it's a fascinating subject, would love to here some more replies, thank you so far. 

Mostly manual (especially when shooting macro) but aperture priority otherwise...

photobod wrote: Some interesting replies, it's a fascinating subject, would love to here some more replies, thank you so far. 

The key thing to note is that the programming for aperture, ISO, and shutter is different for different camera brands.  So P mode may be fine in situation A for camera brand X, but not for camera brand Y.  Thus those who work with a variety of cameras (teachers) may disdain the unknowns of P mode.

Kelly 

Screamin Scott wrote: Mostly manual (especially when shooting macro) but aperture priority otherwise...

Same with me, however when I'm lazy, aperture priority usage goes up.