About Camera Settings

Digital cameras "Auto" exposure and focus modes are optimized for taking photographs of people indoors or outdoors. Setting your camera for product photography requires intricate knowledge of your cameras control features. We can not emphasize enough the importance of studying your camera manual related to the features and settings discussed below.

With digital cameras it's easier to do trial & error but to use trial & error effectively you must know how to make adjustments and to make adjustments you must first understand some basic photography terms.

• Shutter Speed - Shutter speed is the time for which the shutter is held open when taking a photo to allow light to reach the image sensor. In combination with aperture, the shutter speed determines how much light the camera will record. A fast shutter speed demands a larger aperture for good exposure, just as a slow shutter speed is offset by a very small aperture.

• Aperture - Aperture is an opening through which light is admitted. Aperture is usually specified as an f-number, the ratio of focal length to aperture hole diameter.

• Exposure - The exposure is the amount of light received by the sensor and is determined by how wide you open the lens diaphragm (aperture) and by how long you keep the image sensor exposed (shutter speed). The effect an exposure has depends on the sensitivity of the sensor. The exposure generated by an aperture, shutter speed, and sensitivity combination can be represented by its exposure value "EV". Zero EV is defined by the combination of an aperture of f/1 and a shutter speed of 1s at ISO 100.

Mode Settings

The Mode settings enable the photographer to program exposure for different effects.

• AUTO - In Auto mode, the camera adjusts for shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, focus and flash to produce the best exposure it can.

• Program - Program mode is similar to Auto but gives you a little more control over some other features including flash, white balance, ISO etc. Check your digital camera’s manual for how the Program mode differs from Automatic in your particular model.

• Aperture Priority - The camera allows you to select the aperture over the available range and have the camera calculate the best shutter speed to expose the image correctly. This is important if you want to control depth-of-field.

• Shutter Priority - You can select the shutter speed over the available range and have the camera calculate the best aperture to expose the image correctly.

• Manual Mode - You can set both the aperture and the shutter speed. This gives you full control over the exposure.

Set White Balance

Light has a wide variance in color temperature which will affect the overall color tint of a digital image. Digital cameras provide adjustability to compensate for variation in the color of light and this function is referred to as "White Balance".  The camera uses white balance as a baseline for the other colors.

1. "Auto" white balance can cause random color shift depending on the object, and this color shift will require adjusting color balance with software. Adjusting white balance with software can become a challenge.

2. Another option is selecting a "Preset" white balance.  Many cameras today provide several presets such as daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, etc.  Select "daylight", for our continuous lighting kits. Using a preset white balance may not reproduce perfect color but will always be consistent when using a specific light source. A consistent color shift can be corrected with software, and once you get the correction parameters set, you can use this adjustment on every image and get consistent results.

3.  "Custom" white balance setting is captured by the camera and is typically available on more advanced digital cameras. This feature allows you to "custom set" the white balance using a "white card" placed in front of the camera. This option will provide near perfect color reproduction when using artificial lighting. Study your camera manual for procedures on setting "captured" or "custom" white balance.

Focus

Use "Auto Focus" for most shots and use "Manual Focus" for close up macro focus of very small objects. Most digital cameras have very sophisticated focus controls and are perfect for objects more than 1 foot from the lens and in most cases better than your eye.  Manual focus is good for very small objects when you are in "macro mode".  For optimal close-up pictures, invest in a separate macro lens for your camera.

Metering

The metering method defines which information of the scene is used to calculate the exposure value and how it is determined. Metering systems differ between camera models and manufacturer, but are generally variations of the following types below.

1. Evaluative or Multi-Matrix Metering (depending on the camera manufacturer this may be a different name)
   Most cameras use a pre-flash to measure the average ambient light and adjust the built-in flash output accordingly. Cameras interpret color in a gray-scale for flash exposure. An 18% grayscale is a typically setting for flash exposure on digital cameras in Auto mode.  This may be acceptable if you're taking a picture of newlyweds dressed in a black tux and white dress but can cause under-exposure when using a reflective white backdrop like the D-Flector. Other parts of the image can be under or overexposed. In most cases, reducing the view size to where the background area is less than 50% will improve the exposure.
    

2. Center-Weighted Metering
   Some camera manufacturers use the auto-focus area (within the frame) to measure the ambient light. This will narrow the light measurement to the focus area and ignore the surroundings. Thus, the exposure will increase when shooting products against a white background.
    

3. Spot Metering
   More advanced cameras allow you to change the metering to three modes including center-spot. Center-spot mode will only measure 18% grayscale on a smaller area (about 5% center) of the picture to calculate the necessary exposure setting.

"Spot" or "Center Weighted" metering is preferred for most objects, especially when shooting with a Tabletop Studio. When shooting in "Evaluative" metering mode of an object in front of a white background, the averaging light meter of a digital camera may produce under-exposure because the white background (90%+ grayscale value) is taking more of the whole scene for an 18% grayscale exposure.  Center-Weighted or Spot metering on the object will produce far better results. [see illustration below] If your camera doesn't have multiple metering modes you should consider upgrading your camera.

Exposure Compensation

We have found that most digital cameras require "Exposure Compensation" when using studio lighting. Exposure Compensation provides the ability to influence the auto exposure control of the camera and allow you to correctly expose an object especially against a white background.

You will need to experiment with your camera until you get satisfactory results and them leave the camera set to the necessary exposure compensation setting. 

Exposure can be adjusted several ways including exposure value (EV), ISO setting and metering.

• Exposure Value (+/-EV) is the camera's way to offset exposure by adjusting the shutter speed and aperture setting.  You can also manually control shutter speed and aperture for the desired exposure.  Use the table below to get a general idea how EV changes your camera's shutter speed and aperture. [see Illustration]

• Adjusting the ISO setting can also be used to adjust the exposure. ISO is a setting for light sensitivity.  ISO 100 is considered the "normal" setting for most cameras, although some go as low as ISO 50.  Higher sensitivity levels work well in low light conditions and increase exposure but image quality can become grainy - something to look out for.  Sensitivity levels can be increased to 200, 400, 800, or even 3,200 on high-end digital SLRs.

• Meter settings change how the camera uses the scene to provide an 18% grayscale exposure.  In other words, the camera's metering system is calibrated to a certain light value in order to guarantee constant exposure settings: 18% gray is commonly used in digital cameras because a typical scene reflects about the same amount of light as this gray value.  For comparison all these colors shown here reflect light in average about 18% gray: Usually this assumption works well but if you expose a scene with a majority of bright colors/grays without compensation in spot or center-weighted mode the camera will darken the photo to an 18% grayscale average - the result is under-exposure.  Most cameras are blind in regard to colors.

Manual Exposure Control

Manual control of exposure provides the ability to manage the aperture of the lens, which is very important for maximizing "depth-of-field". Small apertures (larger numbers like f-8 of f-11) are the most desirable settings to maintain sharp focus over an entire 3 dimensional object. Setting the camera to manual exposure control or "aperture priority" will allow for the selection of a small aperture.  When using "aperture priority" the shutter speed will be selected by the camera and in manual mode by the photographer. In many cases, with small apertures, the shutter speed will be slow and a tripod is essential.

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