A while ago I was doing a talk on photography to a very large group of people from a pretty cool organisation, talking about my career in photo shizzle and the vast variety of subjects I've had to photograph...

There were questions all through the talk about the photos that were on the big screen and at the end any other general questions. A man put his hand up and asked, "How do you get such awesome photos of so many different subjects, what is the secret setting you use?"

We had a good little chat about it, but he wouldn't accept that getting great photos isn't about settings. Sure there are a lot of factors but settings is not the most important one. He didn't like hearing that it wasn't about settings and got a bit ranty

I shall explain what I said to him, and hopefully it'll give you an idea of how I work which might help you a bit ;-)

There's basically 4 modes on a camera, Auto, Manual, Aperture priority and Shutter priority.

Forget using Auto, you won't learn anything and all the settings are "average"

Forget using Manual, it's too slow, too much to think about and easy to make mistakes

(If you really know what you're doing or are using flash or in a studio then Manual is the way to go)

So that leaves you Shutter or Aperture priority modes, you set the shutter speed or aperture you want and the camera works out the other for you

You can set a big or small, fast or slow setting, it's a quick easy decision to make (obviously you have to have a basic understanding of settings)

So the decision is which mode to use, if something is moving and you want to eliminate the movement or enhance it then Shutter priority is the way to go. If depth of whats in focus is important then Aperture priority is the way to go

You have 2 easy decisions to make before you take a photo, what is important, shutter speed or aperture? and then big or small. Simples! 2 decisions and you are sorted

Then you can pay attention to your subject, and that is the most important factor in getting great photos, knowing your subject!

Photography is all about a special moment, it's about the moment the sun lights a valley, the moment a footballer makes contact with the ball, the moment a bride cries, the moment a baby laughs, the moment a rally car is at maximum height, the moment a birds wings are fully out

All the best photos you see are about a particular moment, the trick is being ready to photo it when it happens and if you are faffing with settings for ages you'll miss it... every time ;-)

So the trick is to keep it simple, let the camera do the work, and learn about and concentrate on your subject!

Anyone who works with me will often comment about how quickly I can get a good shot and it's never about settings, I make the 2 decisions on the way to the job, get the camera out, set the mode, set the big or small and I'm ready to go

Then I can forget about settings, concentrate on the subject and take the photo at the right moment. The trick to being a Pro is knowing a little more than the basic settings to make life easier but it is still always about a moment and never a setting

The "All the Gear, No Idea" brigade don't like this approach too much, they also don't like me saying they will always miss the moment while they play with settings, the sun will go in, the footballers kicked the ball, the rally car has gone, the model looks bored etc etc

Keep it simple innit! ;-)