As I pointed out in my “Understanding Digital Camera Modes” article, I recommend using “Aperture Priority” mode for beginners (although any other mode works equally well, as long as you know what you are doing). In this mode, you set your lens aperture, while the camera automatically guesses what the right shutter speed should be. This way, you can control the depth of field in your images by changing the aperture (depth of field also depends on other factors such as camera to subject distance and focal length). There is absolutely nothing wrong with using “Auto” or “Program” modes, especially considering the fact that most modern DSLRs give the photographer pretty good control by allowing to override the shutter speed and aperture in those modes. But most people get lazy and end up using the Auto/Program modes without understanding what happens inside the camera, so I highly recommend to learn how to shoot in all camera modes.
Nice Writing.