And worst of all, it takes away your control of how the photo looks.
Do not use auto mode! If up until now you have been shooting on automatic, this is your sign: it’s time to step up your photography game. Automatic is a wild card because it may not optimize your shutter speed to capture a sharp wildlife subject. It may prioritize a low ISO instead of a fast shutter speed, or it may narrow down your aperture when you desperately need to capture more light. You never know when it will do something funky that results in a suboptimal shutter speed, bad depth of field, or high grain. And worst of all, it takes away your control of how the photo looks.