In this episode of The Beyond the Image podcast, host James Patrick reviews his recomended camera settings for a variety of various situational photo shoots.
From in studio portraits to on location action photos to window lit natural light photos. James reviews each scenario and gives his recommended settings for ISO, f-stop and shutter speed.
In addition, James reviews recommended camera settings to help work more efficiently when doing your photo shoots.
Connect with James at JamesPatrick.com or IG @JPatrickPhoto
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I want to talk about recommended camera settings depending on the situation of the scenario that you are photographing. Alright let's dive in. Are you tired of the endless stream of fantasy marketing and vanity metrics? Yeah so am I. My name is James Patrick and I'm an internationally published photographer, media specialist and marketing strategist. As a creative entrepreneur I face the same exact frustrations you have, being bombarded by generic advice that promises success but never lives up to the hype. We need to move beyond the posturing, beyond the facade, beyond the image to navigate the unique challenges we face as creatives. Together we're going to dive into real stories, real strategies and the real work that can lead to the real results. This is the Beyond the Image Podcast. What is going on? Thank you so much for tuning in to our latest episode of the Beyond the Image Podcast. I'm honored that you can take some time to get some information and get a little inspiration to help you in your creative entrepreneurial journey. So I want to talk today about the camera settings I am using in different situations or different scenarios as my default or my go to settings and I tend to lock in these settings right when I'm going into a shoot or specific situation and the variance that I'm going to have in there is not too great and we'll talk about variables that might shift the camera settings or when I might be changing my ISO, changing my aperture, changing my shutter speed. So to do that we're going to be showing a couple different samples of work just so you can get a sense of what we are trying to create with each one. So the first example I'm going to go with is studio portraiture. So shots that I'm doing in studio, more often than not these are shots for peoples, a lot of them are going to be from magazine covers from my perspective but shots for peoples, portfolios, shots for peoples, modeling work, maybe they're using it for their branding photos. So I'm in studio which means I'm controlling the lighting, you know, assuming that this is a studio that we're using strobe lighting with. So with that my ISO is always, always, always, always at 100. I cannot really even think about a time I would change my ISO, there's no need to, I want my ISO to be as low as the native ISO for my camera is which on a Canon it's 100, Nikon it's 200. So now if my ISO is locked in at 100, I don't need to worry about that and the only thing I need to think about or worry about is, well, am I, what do I want my f-stop or my aperture to be and what do I want my shutter speed to be? My shutter speed, unless I'm doing a special effect, special effect meaning I'm dragging the shutter, so unless I'm doing a special effect and dragging the shutter, I am locked in at 1/125, 1/125. If I'm in studio, my shutter speed is 1/125, which means I have two of the three variables. My ISO is locked in at 100 and my shutter speed is locked in at 1/125. That means I only have to control or have to worry about the control of my aperture or my f-stop and 90 plus percent of the time when I'm shooting studio portraiture, I'm at around an f-11 and we're just going to say f-11. So ISO 100, f-11, 1/125. I don't need to change my shutter speed because I'm not trying to blur motion in these shots and f-11 is a great aperture for sharp photos. So for this shot, I guarantee ISO 100, f-11, 1/125. Same with this shot, same with this shot, same with this shot, all done the exact same settings. So now let's look at another scenario. The next scenario would be I'm going outdoors, I'm shooting outdoor portraiture, maybe something like this, it's bright outside, there's a lot of ambient light. So once again, let's start with our ISO. This tends to be the metric I set first or the control that I set first, because it's so bright, because there's so much ambient light, my ISO is locked in. Once again, at the lowest it can be, your ISO is how sensitive your camera is to the lighting scenario that you are in. Well, there's plenty of abundant light, it's bright outside, my ISO is going to be locked in as low as it can go on my camera, which for the Canon once again, the native is 100. So now for these, now the assumption is on these, I'm using a strobe. The fastest that my strobes can sync to my camera using my pocket wizards is 1/200. So once again, I'm probably dialed in at 1/125, but if I want to cut out a little more of the ambient light and want a little bit darker or a little bit richer of a sky, maybe I go to 1/160 or 1/200. And then my f-stop, once again, it's bright out. I can't really open up the f-stop unless I add in an ND filter, and we'll talk about that. So once again, I'm at f/11 to f/13 for almost all of these photos. So 1/100 or 1/125 for the shutter speed, ISO is 100, shutter speed is f/11 or excuse me, f-stop is f/11. Same with this one right here, ISO is 100, shooting at 1/125, f/11. Same with this one right here, ISO 100, 1/125, shooting at f/11 to f/13. So the next scenario is let's say I'm doing a portrait, but I want to use an ND filter, and when would I use an ND filter? I would use an ND filter if I'm trying to shoot with an opened aperture. Maybe I want to have the background blur out a little bit more. So this one, I have a ND filter on. Maybe I want the sky to be a little darker and richer. This shot, I'm using an ND filter on. This was shot in the middle of the day, but because I'm stopped down and using an ND filter, it looks like it's nighttime outside. So these are examples of when I'd use an ND filter. When I want a richer sky, perhaps, I would use an ND filter. So I have an example of that in here. So in this shot, I'm using an ND filter. So when I'm using an ND filter outside, once again, my ISO is locked in. I'm at 100 on my ISO. My shutter speed now is a thing that I'm also keeping locked in, 1/125. It's a variable I don't have to really think about or worry about, because the primary thing I'm focused on when I'm using an ND filter is what is my aperture? What is my F-stop? What am I opening up to? And depending on the ND filter I'm using, I might be able to open up to F4 or even if it's like a 7-stop ND filter, I can open up to 2.8. And I'm able to shoot outside in bright sunlight at 2.8, make the background really dark, make the background a little bit moodier, make the background a little bit richer. And that's what I'm able to achieve with that ND filter. So it just allows me to modify my aperture without touching my ISO and without touching my shutter speed. All right, so next up we're going to look at natural light portraits. So let's say I'm using a window light or an open doorway. So this, for example, is a natural light portrait and I'm shooting with an open door to create this. I have another one down here. This one right here is also a natural light shot. There's no strobes, there's no modifiers to create this shot. So for this, by default, I will set my ISO at 400. I'm assuming I'm indoors, which means the amount of natural light I could have indoors is going to be knocked down quite a bit. And I find that ISO 400 is a safe ISO that it's not atrociously grainy, but it's sensitive enough to be able to properly expose my subjects indoors without using a strobe or without using a flash or without using any light or light modifiers. Okay, so ISO 400. Next thing I'm going to look at is what is my aperture? What am I able to shoot at? And this could just me what lens I have with me because some of my lenses only open up to F4. Well, I have some other lenses that open up to F28 like my 24 to 70 opens up to F2.8 or my 50 millimeter opens up to F1.8. So my next level of control is going to be how much I am opening up my aperture. Okay, this is a second thing I am looking at. So I try to be between F1.8 and 2.8 unless my lens doesn't allow it, which case I'm stuck at F4. Next and last in this scenario is I'm looking at my shutter speed. And I'm going to shoot, unless I'm using a tripod, I'm going to shoot at as slow of a shutter speed as possible while hand holding my camera and allowing the photo to blur. So I can shoot because I have fairly steady hands. I can shoot at 1/30. So 1/30 of a second and still get in focus non-blurry photos for the most part. Which means that if I shoot at 1/60 or 1/60 of a second, I can definitely get sharp photos. So it really just depends on what your comfort level is. And I will vacillate between my F stop and my shutter speed. So for example, if I just find that I'm getting a little too much blur or a little too much movement shooting with my current shutter speed, well then I'm going to speed up my shutter speed. Maybe I will shoot at 1/60. And then I'll open up my aperture a little bit more to let a little bit more of that light in. So I'm trying to use those two controls more than I'm trying to use my ISO. The only time I'll change my ISO and bump my ISO up more or bump it down more is if there's either just a severe lack of light which case maybe I need to go to ISO 800 or maybe there's actually an abundance of bright light in this location indoors which case maybe I can go to ISO 200 and still get properly exposed photos. All right, next up is going to be my blurred motion photos. I get asked a lot about these on Instagram and these are a mix. So here's an example. These are a mix of using both constant light and strobes in the same exposure. So what is happening is I have constant light set up, the subject is moving and then at the very last moment of the photo I'm flashing the light or in this case I'm flashing the light multiple times to create multiple exposures. So you get both blurred motion and froze motion in the photo at the same time. That's how we're achieving this. Is they're moving with constant light so that's exposing in the camera, the strobe fires and that's what freezes them. So when I'm doing this first off back to ISO it's the first thing I'm setting it's locked in at 100. Why? It's the lowest it can go. I want the highest quality in the least grain that I could get or the least digital noise I can get and ISO 100 is going to give me that. Then I'm looking at my aperture. I'm locked in at F11. I want a sharp photo. I don't need an F2A and risk something being out of focus or an F1A or even an F4. I want my entire subject in focus. I'm locked in at F11. So then it really comes down to my shutter speed. So I'm just looking at how long of a shutter speed do I need to properly expose the blurred motion I want in the photo before I'm firing the strobe to freeze the motion. I find it's around two seconds. Sometimes it's a second and a half and sometimes it's two and a half seconds but really the average is about two seconds and that gives me enough time to get the subject to move in the frame before I fire the strobe right before the shutter closes. Now let's look at freezing motion. So we're freezing motion but we're maybe we're outdoors. So I'm working with a pole vault or pole vaulting or a runners running. We're just trying to freeze motion in the shot. That is our primary goal is we want things to look like they are absolutely frozen in time. So four shots like this. Well let's look at this ISO 100. We know it's going to be 100. We're outside. We're freezing motion outside. We need as low of a native ISO as possible. My F stop if I want a sharp photo it's going to be around F11 to F13 depending on what the ambient light is. Maybe that opens up to F8. So then really it comes down to my shutter speed. How fast can I shoot sync to my lights? Well I mentioned with my pocket wizards I can shoot at 1/200 of a second. Well that's what I'm shooting at 1/200 of a second. I do have and this was brought up on Instagram like how do you feel about the high speed sync lights. I have some and I've been able to sync faster like 1/500 of a second. I just find that I don't get the power of light that I want out of my strobe. So it's really just a balance. If I was shooting in studio that would not be a problem. I could open up my aperture and be able to fire with a high speed sync strobe. But outside when I'm on location I find that I just need to be around that 1/200 range. So what are we learning from this? Well the first thing that we're kind of gaining from this is that my ISO my default ISO is almost always the lowest setting. The only time I'm bumping up my ISO is if I'm in a location where I am just struggling to get ambient light at all and I'm not using artificial light. So I'm not using strobes, upward flashes, constant lights, etc. So my ISO on my Canon it's 100, Nikon's is 200. So the only time I'm changing this if I'm in a low light situation and I might not have the same access to strobes. Or maybe I'm in a low light situation but I don't have powerful strobes with me. Or I'm in a low light situation and I don't want a lot of bright lights happening and I want lights to match the environment. So in those cases I would bump up my ISO but that's the only time. So shutter speed, shutter speed I would adjust more often than my ISO but it's not the main thing I'm adjusting if we're looking at the three different controls of ISO, shutter speed or aperture. More often than not my shutter speed, 1/125. It's a great speed for syncing. It's easy to hand hold at 1/25 and the only really big times I would change this is once again if I'm having to shoot in low light situations or I'm trying to blur emotions so trying to create that. So f-stop, my aperture is the variable that I'm focused on the most and I'm adjusting the most. For most of my portraiture work, if I want sharp tach tach tach, sharp portraits, I'm at F8 to F13. I'm in that range. Most of my fitness work, F8 to F13. Most of my location work, F8 to F13. If I want softer shots or if I want to blur out the background, ND filter, that's when I'm opening up. Maybe I'm at a 1/8 or 2/8 something like that or if I'm at a darker setting or I need to pull in more ambient light, well my f-stop is the main control that I'm using to achieve this. So here's the helpful technique that I found. I've shot in manual my entire career. I started with film so I'm just used to shooting in manual but if you are not and if the idea of shooting in manual and having 2 to 3 variables at your control at any given time is just too much, shoot in a priority mode. You can shoot in an AV mode and all you have to worry about is setting in and dialing in your aperture. So I want to shoot this at f-28. Well then your camera will decide, if you want to shoot this at f-28, we'll set your shutter speed. You will set your ISO for you. You don't have to worry about it and you'll be able to shoot at whatever aperture you set or if you're in a situation where your shutter speed is the priority, let's say you're shooting sports or you want to freeze motion, you want to blur motion and you only want to be able to control your shutter speed on the fly, set it in your TV mode which is your shutter speed priority mode. I don't know why they call it TV, it's called SV but you lock in what you want your shutter speed to be and then your camera will constantly adjust what the aperture is and what the ISO is to be able to properly expose the photo at the shutter speed that you locked in. This is a very helpful way to be able to shoot quickly, especially if you're trying to shoot a lot of content in a short amount of time. So there's a whole variety of camera settings that I am locking in depending on my scenario. Hopefully this was helpful to you. If so, let me know in the comments section. Thank you so much for checking out this episode for sharing this episode with a friend. We always appreciate your reviews for your likes, for subscribing on YouTube and Apple and Spotify and all the things. Truly appreciate, hope you're doing well and we'll talk to you all in the next episode. Take care everyone. Hey, I'm Ryan Reynolds. At Mint Mobile, we like to do the opposite of what Big Wireless does. They charge you a lot, we charge you a little. So naturally, when they announce they'd be raising their prices due to inflation, we decided to deflate our prices due to not hating you. That's right. We're cutting the price of Mint Unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. 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