Real Estate Photography: Understanding the Three Main Camera Settings

Are you new to the world of photography and looking to learn about the three main camera settings? Well, you're in luck because we've got you covered. In this blog post, we're going to dive deep into the world of aperture, ISO, and shutter speed so that you can take your photography game to the next level.

Let's start with ISO. This is the sensitivity of your camera's sensor to light. Essentially, it's the way to brighten or darken your images. However, ISO can also affect the overall quality of your photos. Have you ever taken a photo with your phone at night or in a dark room, and notice that the image looked very grainy or low quality? That's because when your camera took that picture, it noticed that there wasn't a lot of light available, so it needed to compensate to produce an image that you could actually see. The camera does this by raising the ISO. Now the downside is the higher the ISO setting is, the more grainy or noise might be seen in your image. So, be careful when adjusting the ISO settings.

Moving on to aperture. This refers to the size of the opening of your lens. When adjusting aperture the blades in the lens open and close to let more or less light in. Typically these are written in F stops. The higher the F stop, the more close the aperture blades are and the less light coming in. The lower the F stop, the more open the aperture blades are and more lights come in to the camera hitting your sensor. A low F stop means more depth of field which blurs the background of a picture. A high F stop means less depth of field and the more of the image is in focus.

Now let's talk about shutter speed. This is the amount of time measured in seconds that your camera's shutter is open. With shutter speed, you'll see a number of one over 50, one over 100, one over 250 up to one over 8000 or beyond depending on your camera. It is also possible to slow your shutter speed down to one 5, one 10 or even 30 seconds. The slower the shutter speed, the more motion blur and flowy look in images. The faster the shutter speed, the less motion blur for moving objects like cars, sports, and people running.

It's important to understand how each of these settings works and how they interact with each other to create a perfect image. For example, when shooting outside in the daytime, you typically want to shoot at the lowest ISO setting since there's already so much light for the cameras that we use that ISO is 100. For interior shots, we still keep it relatively low between 100 and 400 ISO, depending on the amount of light coming into the room.

We keep our aperture setting by default at F8. If you need your camera shutter faster, you can reduce the F stop at a lower setting like f 6.3 or even F4 which will bring in more light into the camera sensor. Some photographers prefer to shoot at a higher F stop setting. When shooting, remember to set the ISO based on the scene. To keep it simple, we leave our ISO settings on auto with a minimum setting of 100 and a maximum setting of 400.

Once you understand these three concepts and how your camera uses them, you'll be able to take some excellent real estate photos, in addition to being able to troubleshoot any issues that may arise. But, it's important to note that practice makes perfect. Don't be afraid to experiment with different settings to find what works best for you and your photography style.

In conclusion, understanding these three basic camera settings is essential for every photographer, especially those interested in real estate photography. With a little practice and experimentation, you'll be able to take stunning photos that will make your clients happy.