Today I’m going to show you what your camera settings in the studio mean and the fact that they’re not quite as important as you think they are.
The single most question I get asked all the time is “what were yoru camera settings for that shot”? It’s an understandable question, you’re wondering how to replicate the shot exactly down to the settings… but do they entirely matter?
Let me explain…
The 3 elements that affect your images in the studio are:
👉 Aperture
👉 Shutter speed
👉 ISO
✅ Shutter speed
Even though we’re talking about the studio, let's imagine for a second that you’re shooting outside and adjusting your shutter speed. When you adjust it, your exposure changes. A slower shutter speed lets in more light, a faster shutter speed lets in less light, etc.
However it doesn’t work like that in the studio. You can (almost) forget about your shutter speed entirely (within reason). What you should be focusing on is your camera’s sync speed. This is the highest speed in which your camera can use flash before seeing your black bars in the shot for example.
✨ A good rule of thumb is simply don’t exceed your sync speed! ✨
What about slower shutter speeds such as if I shoot at 1/125th or 1/200th of a second? None of that will affect the exposure. Where it WILL matter is if you shoot at such a slow shutter speed (for example 1/8th of a second) what will happen is that ambient light will probably start to show and if you’re using flash in the studio you don’t need to shoot at that slow of a speed to begin with.
✨ Stick with a go-to shutter speed of something like 1/200th of a second, set it and forget it. ✨
In the video I’m going to show you how our shutter speed is going to effect whether our ‘window light’ demo changes our shot. 👉 Check it out at 3:40
✅ ISO
ISO basically works the same way as it does on location. The ISO is the camera’s sensitivity to light. Me personally, I like shooting around 200 or 400 so that I get a nice clean file. But what if the light source you’re using isn’t kicking out as much light? Such as a speed light? That is where having a higher ISO can effectively change your exposure. Now this is very subjective and can depend on your camera when you start to see noise in your image by upping your ISO. I also might drop my ISO down if I see that an image is too bright.
✅ Aperture
So aperture affects exposure but it also affects depth of field, same as on location. If you use a wider aperture in the studio it will let more light in but also might not be useful for the photo in general in terms of depth of field. For example shooting on a solid background. However if you have a textured background or scene, that is where you may want to play with the aperture to get a bit of a softer background. In which case I would go from something like F/11 to perhaps F/2.8 to soften the scene. It’s all about your preference.
✨ The takeaway is that the aperture you use in the studio is not as noticeable in the studio as it would be on location. ✨
So now you know not to sweat your camera settings as much as you may be and not worry every time you step into the studio. There are a number of other things that make the image, the styling, the lighting etc so if you have one less thing to worry about you can focus (no pun intended) on what matters most, making the image!
While the title of this video is “camera settings don’t matter” we know that they obviously DO matter, but not to the extent you probably thought before. There are obviously exceptions to this rule but in THIS demonstration you can see how little the settings affect the outcome, especially when demonstrating equivalent exposure. (7:09)
👇 I hope you found this video useful! Drop a comment below and let me know if this helps put your mind at ease for the future in the studio!
🔥 To learn more about lighting definitely check out my class Master Studio Lighting: lindsayadler.photo/msl
📸 Gear Used:
✅ Canon EOS R5: adorama.rfvk.net/JxzdE
✅ Canon 85mm 1.2: adorama.rfvk.net/Rk5Qy
✅ Profoto D2: adorama.rfvk.net/qvB7y
✅ Profoto Deep White Umbrella, Large, 51": adorama.rfvk.net/bKGzg
✅ Profoto Air Remote: adorama.rfvk.net/W3o5G
✅ Avenger D600 boom arm: adorama.rfvk.net/XRdAG
✅ Avenger Roller Stand: adorama.rfvk.net/NKkaEK
✅ Tether Tools Tether Cable: adorama.rfvk.net/avr5q
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