Opinion and photography .

My friend doesn't like liquorice , I love the stuff but I can't tell him he is wrong for not liking it and he can't tell me I am wrong for liking it - opinions vary . But I just did a quick search on the topic and found that too much is toxic to the liver . Now if he tells me that I can't argue because it is a fact .
It's the same with a picture you like whether you took it with your pretty pink camera or someone else took it , nobody can tell you it does not look nice - to you  . They can tell you however that the horizon is tilted which is a bad mistake - unless it was done on purpose because of a personal preference . [ Maybe someone needs to eat a lot of liquorice because they have a chemical imbalance that gets fixed  by it ! ] .


Also , if you are getting the results you want don't let anyone tell you your method is wrong . The greatest accomplishment in photography is to be able to dial in the settings you want and get the picture looking exactly the way you planned it without any more adjustments ! Even if nobody else likes the picture and you do - you can't get more skillful than that . but of course if nobody else likes it you may have to decide whether you just want to be an artist or adapt your style to something customers will pay for .
But if you're a beginner don't defend all the pictures your camera takes just because you like it because it is a pretty pink design that goes with your hand-bag - and that applies to the ladies as well ! 
You may also be told that you have to eventually shoot in manual mode but if you took a picture in aperture priority mode with -1.3 EV compensation dialed in and +0.7 on the flash and got the results you were after it is nobody's business why you never shot in manual mode . Many of the purists will insist that the ultimate accomplishment is to shoot in manual - generally because they are old codgers that never had access to cameras with good auto modes in their day . I would still advise learning to shoot in manual - when you have the time to play with , but not as a first try at in important event .
Also when conditions are changing quite quickly it is better to know your results are going to be 'close enough' in an auto mode as with dance photography , than to get one perfect shot in manual mode only to have every other shot totally destroyed by a sudden change in lighting .
Learning to shoot in manual helps you learn a lot about photography , use it when you can , but learning how the auto modes respond to various conditions can be a lifesaver when the action speeds up . I personally hardly ever shoot in manual mode because I don't have a very good memory and might forget the camera at a setting after I have moved on - and even if I didn't there are some conditions that change too quickly for me to react fast enough in manual mode - depending on many variables of course . It's best to know how to drive a manual car and an automatic - then you are covered in all situations ..... but if you have only ever driven an automatic you don't enter a race in a manual car ! In other words don't let anyone talk you into going manual for your first wedding if you only know automatic . 
I go manual when I am indoors at night and my flash is controlling the exposure and when I am doing things that require certain settings like with the sound activated flash trigger and balloons [ and an air rifle ] .
When things are moving faster I choose to use whatever does the job which is why I study how the different modes work - so I know which one will make similar decisions to the ones I would make .  
So listen to advice but don't let others steer your opinion .... unless they are your customers that you rely on to make a living .