Hi Nigel – I agree with what Valerie and Ken have already said but wanted to add that this article is about light and helping you to see the light in a different way. If you are too focused on settings you will miss that point.

Try this – if you are having trouble just head out and put the camera on Program. Focus on finding light and watching the light and let the camera do the exposure. See if your pictures are better and report back to us. I will almost bet you that you will see differently. Take away the technical for a while and focus on other things.

Thanks for replying Ken and Valerie. I accept you are correct when you say try different settings, which I do, but what I find really helpful on sites like Flickr is checking the settings used on those photos that include the information. They include ISO settings, exposure times etc which give me ideas to try when I’m out and about. Most monthly photo mags include exposure info on many of their images and I just find that it helps me. Each to their own I suppose!

Thanks Ken, that’s also my point. Nigel, you will never find yourself in the same situation, all that information is quite pointless. The best way to learn is to experience all the different settings yourself. That’s how I learned, until it became intuitive.

For me I always try to remember that there are no ordinary people or ordinary moments Of course I agree that we should not just photograph every person in the street Just be aware that every person is potentially the one to photograph