What is my digital camera's "aperture priority" mode?

What is my digital camera's "aperture priority" mode?

Mark Comon (Vice President, Paul's Photo, Torrance, CA) gives expert video advice on: What does my digital camera's "manual exposure" mode allow me to do?; How do I change the shutter speed on my digital camera?; Which is worse to overexpose or underexpose pictures on my digital camera? and more...

On your digital camera you have the choice of “A-mode” or aperture priority. In the aperture priority mode (it's a way we determine the exposure) you the photographer picks the aperture or f-stop. The camera will choose the shutter speed for you. Aperture priority is the automatic mode that I use most with my camera. So, I pick the f-stop, whether it's f2.8 to blur the background, f8 for medium focus, or f16 to make everything in focus. I shoot 9% of my automatic pictures in aperture priority, because that's how I think about the picture the best.