A photographing apparatus comprises an imaging sensor, a controller, and an exposure-mode-selecting device. The controller performs a photometric operation on a photographing subject and obtains a luminance value of the photographing subject based on the photometric operation. The exposure-mode-selecting device is used for selecting an exposure mode of the photographing apparatus that has a shutter speed and aperture priority AE mode. The photographing operation is performed with a shutter speed and an aperture value that are set by a user and a sensitivity of the imaging sensor that is calculated based on the luminance value and the shutter speed and the aperture value, while the photographing apparatus is in the shutter speed and aperture priority AE mode.