Manual Mode Is Overrated: A Popular, Unpopular Opinion

For most of my time as a photographer, it's been instilled in us that we should always just shoot in manual mode. This is the mentality of plenty of photographers from the older generations. Make no mistake, there's something to be said for the lessons from these sages. But the wisdom isn't fundamentally timeless. Today, there are zillions of situations where manual mode is overrated. But don't just take my word for it--consider the fact that most smartphone photographers use the auto mode.