What does the "auto exposure" setting on my digital camera do?

What does the "auto exposure" setting on my digital camera do?

Mark Comon (Vice President, Paul's Photo, Torrance, CA) gives expert video advice on: What does my digital camera's "landscape mode" do?; What does my digital camera's "night mode" do?; What does my digital camera's "kids and pets" mode do? and more...

In the green auto exposure mode on your digital camera you really can't do anything except take the picture. That's the whole point of it. The green auto exposure setting (idiot-proof mode) prevents you from making any gross mistakes. So if I (as a photographer who knows what I'm doing) am going to hand my camera to a waiter to take a picture, I put it on the green auto exposure setting so he can't fat finger the buttons and mess me up. However, if you just bought your camera today and you want to take pictures I recommend you put it in the green-auto setting. Let the camera do all the work for you. Later on as we get into this a little more, we'll go into some of the other modes and get you better pictures, but not for today. Start with the green auto exposure setting and be happy.