"Why would I want to use the manual mode if my camera can automatically adjust these settings for me?" Well, for the same reason that professional photographers use manual mode: Control. You see when you let your camera automatically choose it's exposure settings based on the information it's sensors are giving it, your camera will strive to expose the image as close to what the human eye would perceive the scene. However the problem with this is not only that it sometimes gets it wrong, but also that the way the eye might see a scene is many - if not most - times not the most beautiful/interesting way to capture that scene. For example if you were taking a picture of the sun at sunset your camera might automatically want to expose the image rather darkly, attempting to make both sun and landscape are properly exposed. Your camera does not realize that a much more interesting picture could be created if you exposed the image so that the landscape became the star of your photograph, exposing it so that it being the breathtaking landscape is well lit, rich and interesting. Or, you could use your camera's automatic setting and end up with the landscape being a too dark, uninteresting blob of dirt. Another reason to use your DSLR's manual setting is that of style. No matter whether photography is your hobby, or you are looking to become a serious photographer, you will eventually develop a style that you want your photography to look like. Maybe that style is a dark and moody style, or maybe it is a bright and cheerful style. Regardless, with manual you can control how your images feel, and create a distinct and beautiful style in your images. Whereas if you use the automatic setting this ability is taken away from you, and you will end up looking like the hundreds of thousands of other digital camera user's out there.