Day 1: Universal Camera Settings (Part 1)

Most Used Camera App Settings

Steps to Succeed in Becoming a Content Creator

I'm going to show you what I would do if I was starting over from nothing...

1 5 Keys to Success

Become a Content Creator

World's Best Online Course & Apprenticeships

I'm going to show you what I would do if I was starting over from nothing and wanted to join the rapidly growing billion dollar creator economy. By the end of this course, just like Liam Neeson in the movie Taken, you will have acquired a very particular set of skills. Skills that you can leverage to make an incredible income for yourself and your family.

The problem most skilled creators face is they don't actually understand all of the incredible opportunities that they have to make money doing what they love. That, my friends, is exactly why I'm going to show you the top three ways thousands of content creators are ditching the 9 to 5, becoming their own boss, and making money by pursuing their own passions.

Full Transparency: I'm going to reveal very personal and sensitive information about my finances and talk about my biggest business mistakes and wins for the sake of transparency with you. My goal is to show you the insane number of opportunities that exist for us as content creators. By no means is any of this for the purposes of showing off.

The truth is my dream was never to make millions of dollars, buy fancy cars, or be quote rich. Instead, my dream was to simply follow my passion for content creation and have a safe amount of money coming in that would allow me to spend more time traveling, fishing, and doing what I love knowing that I don't have to work to just pay the bills each month. With that being said, I have been fortunate enough over the past four years to generate over $10 million for my business. As a content creator, my goal with this video is for you to see a crystal clear path that you can follow to join this amazing creator economy for yourself and for your family.

Now, with that being said, if you have no desire to make money as a content creator, you are more than welcome to just skip right over this video and dive into the specific shooting and editing trainings. But for those of you who do care about aligning your passion and your career, let's dive into the three smartest paths to building consistent monthly cash flow as a content creator.

1 Becoming an Influencer

I'm not a big fan of this word, but I'll say it. This path is becoming an influencer. Whether you identify as an influencer or not, here's the way that you should really look at it: It all comes down to building an audience and consistently being able to capture people's attention through video content.

When you're able to do these two things, you can make a lot of money using three different strategies:

Revenue Streams:

AdSense: Getting paid by content platforms like YouTube for the views that you generate on their platform. Right now, averaging around 600,000 views per month, our channel generates about $4,500 per month in AdSense revenue. The amount that you make per view will vary a lot depending on the topics of your content.

Affiliate Revenue: You recommend a product or other thing that your viewers can buy, and if they do buy, you end up getting a small commission on the sale. On our YouTube channel, we regularly recommend camera gear and other products. Right now, with those recommendations, we generate around $4,000 to $5,000 per month in affiliate revenue. It takes maybe an hour per month of our time to manage, so it's extremely passive, all things considered.

Brand Deals and Sponsorships: Here, you work directly with a company to negotiate some exchange. You might make a short form video recommending their product that you'll post on your Instagram and TikTok, or maybe you'll do a quick sponsor segment in your upcoming YouTube video briefly mentioning their product or service.

Real Example: The first deal we ended up doing was a $3,000 contract with a blue light glasses company where we'd include a 30-second mention of their product in one of our YouTube videos. We still work with that company to this day and they regularly send us more work. Currently, our goal is to average around $10,000 per month in brand deals.

✓ Pros

  • Highly Scalable: What you charge isn't based on how long or how hard you work. It's based on your audience size and ability to capture attention.
  • Passion-Oriented: Get paid to create content about topics you love.
  • Free Stuff: Companies send you products and opportunities you wouldn't imagine.

✗ Cons

  • Takes Time: Building a massive audience doesn't happen overnight.
  • Learning to Say No: Must avoid becoming all sponsored content that kills authenticity.
  • Platform Dependence: You're building on rented land with algorithm changes.
2 Digital Products & Online Courses

I mentioned there's a fourth strategy that influencers can use to make money, and it's easily 10 to 20 times bigger than the first three strategies. That strategy is creating and selling digital products and online courses.

Here's the reality: I mentioned with the influencer path earlier, how it takes time to build up your audience. With digital products, you can start a course business today, and start generating sales as early as next week. This gives you a tangible income stream, which will massively speed up the rate at which you build your audience and brand.

Personal Journey: When I started contentcreator.com, I had zero audience. The only person who cared about what I did was my mom. Having an actual product to sell gave me the ability to market, run ads, build an email list, and within a very short period of time, I was getting hundreds of new followers and fans per day, most of which had already paid me for something and were loving the content.

As your audience grows, the sale of your digital products will skyrocket, along with all of the other influencer opportunities. More brands will notice you, you'll get more views on YouTube for AdSense revenue, and you'll be able to recommend more products as affiliates to your growing audience.

Common Questions:

Q: What if I don't know what to teach or feel unqualified?
If you see something that people are interested in learning and you spend a week or so learning it, organizing all of the resources, and you can provide a structured learning sequence that can help a new person learn that same thing in just a day or two, that is worth its weight in gold. Everyone feels unqualified whenever they start anything new. My solution was to create a beginner level course rather than claim to teach experts. The market of beginners is always the largest and hungriest market.

Starting Small: I had no audience at first, so we started by relying 100% on paid Facebook and Instagram ads. We'd shoot fun videos marketing our course, spend a little money on ads, and generate tons of sales that brought in significantly more revenue than what we spent on ads. We started with a budget of literally $69 and made four times that back in the very first day.

Q: What if I don't want to be the face of an online course myself?
Then, don't be the face. Do you know how many super qualified experts there are out there who don't have online courses they sell simply because they're too busy or have no idea where to start? Partner with them! You handle a lot of the course creation work while they serve as the face on camera. You take upfront work off their plate while leveraging their expertise and existing audience, then split the profit 50-50.

Student Success: Mark is a student of our 30-Day Course Creator program who has never been the actual face of an online course. He simply runs the back-end business and takes a large share of the profit, and he has multiple courses that are close to or already over seven figures in sales.

3 Freelance Content Creation

Starting a freelance content creation business, or as we like to call it, a content strategy business. This is actually how I got my start in the creator economy.

11 years ago, I borrowed an old $300 camera from my now-fiancé, Courtney. I started shooting low-budget videos for local musicians, businesses, and couples getting married. Within my first year full-time though, I had scaled it to over six figures shooting the same type of content, just at a higher level, and believe it or not, I still run that business to this day.

Starting the freelance business allowed me to travel the world, working with people and brands that I truly admired. I experienced things that I never thought would have been possible, all while learning the ropes of business and entrepreneurship, getting paid well throughout the process.

Lance Perkins: Had never used a camera before, and in his first month after taking the 14-day filmmaker course, Lance went out and got a $5,000 video job with only what he learned in the program. Today, Lance makes over $200,000 per year with his video business.

Jay's Story: Another student landed a $5,000 per month video retainer with an auto dealership, filming content using only his smartphone right after joining 14-day filmmaker. That one deal amounts to $60,000 per year from just one client.

✓ Pros

  • Quick Start: Easiest business to start fast and get paid for what you love
  • Fast Scaling: Scale to 10k months working for yourself relatively quickly
  • Low Barrier: Don't need professional gear or years of experience to start

✗ Cons

  • Scalability Limits: Harder to scale to the same level as influencer or course creator
  • Time Trading: Still trading time providing a service compared to selling a product
  • Client Management: Juggling multiple projects for different clients

Big picture, I think for someone just getting started who wants to make some cash on the side or go all in and scale to 10K per month lightning fast, freelance content strategy is an incredible path to take.

The Key to Success

As I said before, the key to success with any of this is committing to start aggressively walking the path now versus casually approaching things, just hoping success will fall in your lap.

My Biggest Regret: I didn't start pursuing these three paths earlier. I waited for years because I didn't think I had what it took. Even though I knew how profitable online courses could be, I took forever to build up the courage to start because I didn't feel qualified and like I didn't have an audience.

You now know the three primary paths creators can follow to join the rapidly growing multi-billion dollar creator economy. What's your plan moving forward?

It's time we dive in headfirst and start mastering the skill set of professional content creation. I hope you are as fired up as I am!

2 How to Get Most of This Course - 14 Day Filmmaker

What you need to do to get most of this course

1 Watch Every Video
Please watch every video, especially in the first half of this program. Even if you feel like you know everything about a certain topic, there are countless times where people have commented saying, "I can't believe I didn't know this particular setting or editing trick."

The sequence of videos in this course was designed to build one topic after another, like a skyscraper, one story at a time.

Important: If you jump around trying to build the penthouse suite right from the start, the skyscraper just won't last because there's no foundation holding everything up.

Now, I understand there might be specific trainings that aren't relevant to you, especially as we start diving into the editing tutorials. For example, we teach several different editing programs and apps in this program. You don't need to learn all of them, instead you can just pick one and run with it as your specific editing program of choice. Even with that being said though, it can only help you to watch every single video. The more knowledge, the better.

2 It's Not the Camera, It's How You Use It

This is probably the most common question I get asked on our weekly Q&A calls, just in the Facebook group, in the comments beneath the videos, when people randomly message me on Facebook or on Instagram, the list goes on. It goes like this: "I have XYZ camera, is it good enough to start with?"

The reality is almost all cameras nowadays are more than good enough to start with. Assuming it was made within the last decade, it will have everything you need to shoot great content.

Now, are there better cameras out there? More capable smartphones with more advanced technology than the one you own? Yes, but I guarantee that if you master what we cover, especially in the first half of this program — the camera settings, composition, camera angles, lighting, and movements — you will be able to shoot better content with whatever camera you own than someone with all of the advanced gear, but no knowledge of the filmmaking fundamentals.

Real-world example: The shot you're looking at right now is filmed on a $2,000 camera, but despite the fact that I have the nice fancy gear, everything still looks bad. All of the fundamentals have been messed up, which is why I focus so much on these things. When you compare this shot to this shot, the quality is so much better, and it was filmed entirely on my smartphone.

Now, before you think I have some really expensive lighting setup that's actually hitting you right now, it's less than $100, and I can show you how to get the exact same look. So, as always, it only goes to prove the point: knowing how to use your gear is way more important than having the best gear.

There's a reason we call the first day in the program universal camera settings, because no matter what you're shooting on, these settings are what you need to know to shoot great content.

So, don't tell yourself that you're going to wait to buy the next camera to learn these things. If you have a smartphone, you have everything you need to unlock all of these cinematic camera settings. Before you ask, "Is my camera good enough?" Take it off the shelf, throw it in video mode, and start practicing what you learned in this course. You'll see very quickly that you can create awesome content with it.

3 Resist the YouTube Train

The value of this program is in the streamlined, value-packed sequence of training videos and practice exercises. Each topic leads seamlessly into the next.

On the flip side, the value of YouTube is its focus on entertainment. In order to grow their channels, most YouTubers create with the focus on hooking your attention with some shiny object topic, and then keeping you watching based primarily on their ability to entertain you.

This is great because the videos are fun, but education usually falls secondary to entertainment. Not to mention, the videos you watch on YouTube were not designed to be watched one after another, meaning you're going to get a ton of duplicate information, biased opinions from different instructors that contradict each other, and so on.

There is phenomenal content available on YouTube, don't get me wrong, but the platform is designed to become an addiction for its viewers, just like Facebook, Instagram, and all of those other apps that we all use.

Bottom line: If you're serious about mastering the art of content creation in the fastest time frame possible, stick to just one educational source at a time, blaze through all the content in this program, finish the practice exercises, and then feel free to go back to YouTube or another educational resource.

Quick Tips for Success

  • Do the practice exercises even if you don't feel ready
  • Join as many weekly Q&A calls as possible (every Tuesday at 11:30 AM Eastern time)
  • Post your work in the Facebook group and ask for feedback so everyone can grow together
  • Use the search feature on Facebook before posting questions — odds are someone has already asked your question
  • Provide as much feedback as you can to other people's work (this helps you grow and the Facebook algorithm will prioritize your posts)
  • Be as nice as possible to everyone in the community
  • Remember that sharing your work for the first time can be scary — we're all beginners at some point
  • Extend your hand as often as possible to help those just getting started

That does it, my do's and don'ts of getting the most out of this program.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.

3 The 6 Universal Camera Settings

Camere asettings you need to be aware off

In this module we're going to introduce the foundation of filming cinematic content, the six universal camera settings. Now we call these universal camera settings because they apply to all cameras. It doesn't matter if you're filming on a $4,000 Sony camera, an iPhone 13 Pro, a Samsung Galaxy, Canon, Nikon, what we cover in this video will apply to all of them.

Once you master these settings you'll feel confident filming practically any scene with any camera and more importantly you'll avoid making the most common mistakes that I see new content creators making all the time.

📹 Important Note About This Course

Before we dive into these six settings I want to point out that over the course of these modules we'll be using a variety of different cameras to demonstrate these settings. Things might look slightly different on your particular camera but have no fear because these settings are universal.

All cameras have the ability to manipulate them in one way or another and we'll have specific trainings later on in the program diving into several different camera systems, smartphone apps, and so on making sure you know exactly how to use your particular camera.

✓ These Settings Work On All Cameras:

Sony Canon Nikon iPhone Samsung Galaxy Google Pixel GoPro DJI Panasonic Fujifilm And More!

The 6 Key Camera Settings

1
Frame Rate
Controls how many frames are captured per second, affecting motion smoothness and slow-motion capabilities
2
Shutter Speed
Determines how long the camera sensor is exposed to light for each frame, affecting motion blur
3
Aperture
Controls the size of the lens opening, affecting depth of field and light exposure
4
ISO
Adjusts the camera sensor's sensitivity to light, helping in low-light situations but can introduce noise
5
White Balance
Ensures colors appear accurate by adjusting for different lighting conditions and color temperatures
6
Resolution
Determines the video quality and dimensions, from HD (1080p) to 4K, 6K, and beyond

🎯 What You'll Learn

Over the course of the next few videos we are going to break down each setting in detail and make sure you know exactly which to choose depending on your specific situation helping you achieve that cinematic look.

Some of these settings may sound familiar, others may be unfamiliar to you. Don't worry – by the end of this section, you'll have complete mastery over all six settings and understand how they work together to create professional-looking content.

Ready to Master Each Setting?

Thanks for watching this brief intro. In the following modules, we'll dive deep into each of these six settings, one by one, ensuring you understand not just what they do, but when and how to use them for maximum cinematic impact.

I'll see you in the next one!

4 Understanding Frame Rate

Frame rate is important because the total number of frames in every second of video has a big impact on the look of our final video and what we're able to do with it. There are three common frame rates that most cameras have by default:

Frame Rate Description Use Case
24 FPS Industry standard, Hollywood films Cinematic look, narrative content
30 FPS Slightly smoother than 24 FPS YouTube, social media, talking heads
60 FPS High frame rate for slow motion Slow motion footage, action shots

24 Frames Per Second - The Industry Standard

The industry standard and the frame rate that is most commonly used in Hollywood films is 24 frames per second, meaning that in each second of footage recorded, there are 24 individual frames being played one after another.

This is the industry standard because it portrays motion in a way that is similar to the way our eyes naturally perceive motion throughout our day-to-day lives. Anything less than 24 frames per second and our eyes will start to notice that the video isn't smooth motion and that there are in fact tiny pauses between each individual frame of the video.

Understanding Slow Motion

As we increase the number of frames per second, we start to get a somewhat unnatural smoothness to our images that isn't really what our eyes naturally see in our day-to-day lives. However, there is a benefit to higher frame rates: the ability to portray slow motion.

When we increase our frame rate to 60 frames per second, we now have 2.5 times more frames in every second of video. Because we have all these additional frames, we're able to essentially stretch out that one second of footage to cover 2.5 seconds, slowing things down significantly.

The Math Behind Slow Motion

By stretching the footage out and slowing things down where we originally had 60 frames in just one second of footage, now we have 60 frames spread out over 2.5 seconds of footage and within each individual second of that clip, there are 24 frames, bringing us back to that cinematic standard. This process of stretching out the footage is called interpreting the footage.

Formula for Slow Motion Percentage:

Base Frame Rate ÷ Shot Frame Rate = Slow Motion %

Example: 24 ÷ 60 = 0.4 (40%)

Most editing programs allow you to do this very easily by asking you what percentage you'd like to slow the footage down to. With 60 frames per second footage, we need to slow it down to 40% of the original speed, which brings it back to that 24 frames per second standard.

More Examples:

24 ÷ 120 = 0.2 (20%)

Shooting at 120 FPS allows you to slow down to 20% speed

24 ÷ 240 = 0.1 (10%)

Shooting at 240 FPS allows you to slow down to 10% speed

⚠️ Top 10 Beginner Mistake: Improper Slow Motion

The Problem: Slowing down footage that either shouldn't be slowed down at all or slowing down footage more than they should based on the total frames per second.

A lot of people will film in 24 or 30 frames per second and then try to slow things down when they're editing to, let's say, 40%. When they do this, the end product is, yes, slower, but not true slow motion because it's very clear it wasn't filmed at a high frame rate and the footage is very shuddery with those telltale gaps in between each individual frame.

The Fix: First, never slow down 24 frame per second footage. Film in a higher frame rate and only slow it down as much as the mathematical equation allows for.

What About 30 Frames Per Second?

30 frames per second is definitely an area of confusion for a lot of people. I will repeat again, 24 frames per second has always been the Hollywood standard for cinematic footage.

30 frames per second is almost exactly the same as 24 frames per second, but it is ever so slightly different. In every second of video, there are going to be six more individual frames, which normally means a little less motion blur will be present in your videos and it will also look a little smoother due to those extra frames.

Now this by itself isn't bad. It's just a little different than what we're used to seeing with our human eyeballs and what we see in most Hollywood movies. I'd go so far as to bet 95% of people watching this video right now would not be able to tell the difference between a clip shot in 24 frames per second and a clip shot at 30 frames per second.

💡 Modern Perspective on 24 vs 30 FPS

Lately there's even been a shift in the YouTuber community where content creators now suggest filming in 30 frames per second over 24 frames per second because they actually like the smoother look. It's becoming more of a topic of personal preference than anything else.

General Guidelines:

  • Filming narrative, cinematic, Hollywood style short films → 24 FPS
  • Filming YouTube or social media content with talking heads → 30 FPS

Either way, I for one still film 99% of my content at 24 frames per second, and that's what I will continue to recommend in this course.

Important Note: If your particular phone doesn't allow you to film in 24 frames per second and the lowest you can go is 30, don't worry at all. Just stick with 30 FPS and basically no one will ever be able to tell the difference. Just remember to increase your frame rate to 60 FPS and up whenever you want that slow motion.

What If You Don't Know Which Clips Will Be Slow Motion?

This is a smart question to ask because it is a common scenario that people find themselves in. I remember when I used to film tons and tons of weddings, it was always hard to know which clips would end up being in slow motion.

The Solution:

  • Try to switch as much as you can (e.g., talking heads in 24 FPS)
  • If you're in a situation where you know you'll want at least some clips to be slow motion, but not all of them, just film everything at 60 frames per second

Timeline Frame Rate Magic

The reason why filming everything at 60 FPS isn't the end of the world has to do with our editing programs. Whenever you start a project in practically any editing software, you'll have to choose what your timeline frame rate is. So now we essentially have two frame rates:

  1. The frame rate we shot our footage in
  2. The frame rate that our edit's timeline is in

99.9% of the time, I choose 24 frames per second as my timeline frame rate. When I throw a 60 frame per second clip into a 24 frame per second timeline, the editing program will magically hide all of the additional frames, evenly spacing out the gaps, making what was 60 frames per second footage essentially look very close to what true 24 frame per second footage would look like.

Now when you want to slow down that clip and stretch it out, those frames that were magically hidden come back, allowing you to still get that beautiful slow motion. It's pretty cool that our editing programs do this automatically.

⚠️ Warning: 30 FPS in 24 FPS Timeline

Let's say you take 30 frames per second footage and drop it in a 24 frame per second timeline. The same thing happens where the editing program magically hides the additional frames. But the issue is the gaps caused by the missing frames aren't as evenly spaced out as they were with 60 frame per second footage.

The awkward gaps cause a weird jittery effect when viewing back the footage and for me it's a telltale beginner mistake.

Key Takeaways

  • The industry standard is 24 frames per second (some cameras call this 23.976 or 23.978 - don't worry about why, it's just a historical thing)
  • For slow motion, stick to 60 frames per second and multiples of 60 like 120, 240 and so on
  • Each higher frame rate unlocks more and more slow motion capability
  • After shooting for a very long time, 90% of the time, 60 frames per second is more than enough slow motion
  • Anything above 60 FPS is somewhat overkill for most situations
  • Use the formula: 24 ÷ Shot Frame Rate = Slow Motion Percentage
  • Never slow down 24 FPS footage - always shoot in higher frame rates for slow motion

Don't forget to join our community on Facebook and follow the team on Instagram.
I'll see you in the next one!

5 Understanding Shutter Speed, Apperture and ISO

Now we'll delve into shutter speed, aperture and ISO. These settings are extremely important. They make up what I like to call the exposure triangle due to the fact that these three settings are what we change in order to properly expose our scene.

The Exposure Triangle

Exposure is the industry term for the brightness or darkness of your image and although that may sound simple, having the wrong exposure is number one on my top ten list of beginner mistakes. Mess up these settings and you may find yourself with an overexposed image (too bright) or an underexposed image (too dark).

1. Shutter Speed

Controls exposure time & motion blur

2. Aperture

Controls light & depth of field

3. ISO

Controls digital brightness & noise

💡 Understanding Primary vs Secondary Effects

When it comes to these three settings that make up the exposure triangle, each one has a primary effect and a secondary effect. The primary effect of all three of these settings is having an influence on the exposure of your scene (making your image bright or dark).

The secondary effects these settings have are very different and one of the key attributes that many amateur content creators completely disregard — it keeps them from unlocking the full potential of their videos. So make sure to pay close attention to these secondary effects.

1. Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is essentially the length of time that the sensor of your camera is allowed to capture the image and it's measured in seconds. What's great about shutter speed is you can actually see it in action making it much easier to understand.

All cameras have sensors — a complex array of photo sites that collect light data. Historically most cameras had a physical shutter which is like a door that keeps light from hitting the sensor when it's not time to take a picture or video.

When you take a picture the shutter literally snaps up and down revealing the sensor allowing it to briefly capture the image before the shutter comes back down. The length of time that the sensor is exposed is the shutter speed. Modern cameras like our cell phones or mirrorless cameras don't have the physical shutter that goes up and down and instead the mechanism is essentially built into the sensor itself.

✓ Primary Effect: Exposure

Long Shutter Speed (1 second): Sensor is exposed for a long period of time collecting tons of light → Brighter image

Fast Shutter Speed (1/50th second): Only briefly exposes the sensor allowing less light to enter → Darker image

✓ Secondary Effect: Motion Blur

Long Shutter Speed: Any movement that occurs over the course of that time will be captured → More motion blur

Fast Shutter Speed: Sensor only collects light for a microsecond → Very sharp, almost frozen in time, less motion blur

📐 The Golden Rule for Shutter Speed

The general rule of thumb is you want the denominator of your shutter speed to be twice your frame rate.

Shutter Speed = 2 × Frame Rate
Frame Rate Shutter Speed Formula Actual Setting
24 FPS 2 × 24 = 48 1/48 or 1/50 second
30 FPS 2 × 30 = 60 1/60 second
60 FPS 2 × 60 = 120 1/120 second

Note: Most cameras only show you the denominator of your shutter speed. So if your shutter speed is set to 1/50th of a second, your camera will only show "50".

🎬 Why This Rule Matters for Cinematic Quality

The reason behind this is super important and it has a massive impact on the cinematic quality of your footage. It is all about the motion blur.

You see, the goal is to always capture footage that mimics what our eyeballs are used to seeing and our eyes are very used to seeing motion blur. Pick up your hand and wave it in front of your face. If you try to focus on your fingers you'll notice it's not crystal clear and in fact has motion blur to it.

When we film with a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second, there's quite a bit of motion blur which is good. Watch practically any Hollywood film and most of the time you'll notice the same — fast motion is always accompanied by motion blur.

⚠️ Common Mistake: Too Fast Shutter Speed

If you accidentally increase your shutter speed too much and let's say you film at 1/500th of a second, there's practically no motion blur whatsoever. The image is almost unnaturally sharp at every frame.

Even if this is your first time noticing the impact of motion blur, believe me this is something your subconscious mind absolutely picks up on and it's a big part of that cinematic look that is sometimes really hard to define.

Conclusion on Shutter Speed: First and foremost, your shutter speed impacts the exposure of your image (fast shutter speed = darker image, slower shutter speed = brighter image). The key though is making sure to follow the double your frame rate rule to nail the perfect amount of motion blur. Increase your shutter speed too much and you'll lose that cinematic motion blur altogether.

2. Aperture

All cameras need to have a lens in order to function. Some cameras have interchangeable lenses like the Canon EOS R where we can swap one lens out for another. Other cameras have fixed lenses like the Sony ZV-1 or more commonly our smartphones. Regardless of which type of camera you have, all lenses have a specific component called the diaphragm which controls the aperture of the lens.

A large aperture lets more light in resulting in a brighter image while a small aperture lets less light in resulting in a darker image. It's exactly like the pupil of your eye which automatically adjusts in size to let in more or less light.

📸 Understanding F-Stop

With our camera lenses, aperture is measured with a term called f-stop.

F-Stop Value Aperture Size Light Amount Effect
Low (f/2.8) Wide/Large Tons of light Brighter image
High (f/11) Small Less light Darker image

✓ Primary Effect: Exposure

Low F-Stop (f/2.8): Wide aperture letting tons of light in → Brighter image

High F-Stop (f/11): Small aperture letting less light in → Darker image

✓ Secondary Effect: Depth of Field

Low F-Stop (f/2.8): Shallow depth of field → Only subject in focus, blurry background (cinematic look)

High F-Stop (f/11): Deep depth of field → Everything in focus (less cinematic)

A lot of people will call this the "blurry background effect". Having your f-stop low like f/2.8 will give you a shallow depth of field meaning only a very small plane of three dimensional space in your image will be in focus. Everything else like the background and the foreground will be blurry and out of focus. This is a very desirable look and it's why most of the time we recommend filming with a low f-stop meaning your aperture is wide open.

💰 Understanding Lens Quality & Price

Here's the thing though, not all lenses are built equal. Some lenses have lower f-stops than others meaning their apertures can open even wider. This will allow you to get even more background blur than other lenses.

Lenses with even lower apertures allow you to let even more light in as well. So if you're ever filming a scene where there isn't much light, you're going to want a lens that has a low f-stop. This is one of the largest factors that impacts the price of a lens. Since quality increases the lower the f-stop can go, the price will also increase significantly.

🎯 General Rules for Aperture

Most of the time: Film at the lowest f-stop possible. This lets the most light in and increases the background blur as much as possible.

Exception - Landscapes: When filming landscapes, you actually want everything to look sharp and in focus. In this situation, use a higher f-stop like f/11 so both the foreground and background are in focus.

Smartphones: Most smartphones have fixed apertures that can't be changed at all. If that's the case, then you have one less setting to worry about and can focus on all the other settings in the exposure triangle even more.

3. ISO

I like to call ISO "digital brightness". Because when you increase your ISO you're essentially adding fake light to your scene. Unlike shutter speed and aperture which literally impact the amount of light that hits your sensor, ISO is all digitally manufactured light.

The measurement for ISO typically starts at around 100 and goes all the way up into the tens of thousands, which would mean adding a ton of this digital light to your scene.

⚠️ The Problem with High ISO

You might be thinking, "Well this means I can film in any lighting scenario because even if it's super dark I can just keep bumping the ISO up until the scene looks well lit." Unfortunately that's not the case.

See, as we continue to increase our ISO, yes it adds more digital light to the scene, but it also adds digital noise — which is almost like static showing through your images and videos. As you increase your ISO, the image gets brighter but this ugly static noise shows through on your image, which takes away from the cinematic quality of the scene.

✓ Primary Effect: Exposure

Low ISO (100-400): Minimal digital brightness added → Image may be darker but clean

High ISO (1600+): Lots of digital brightness added → Image is brighter but with noise

✗ Secondary Effect: Digital Noise

Low ISO: No noise whatsoever → Clean, professional image

High ISO: Visible grain/static → Unprofessional look that ruins cinematic quality

⚠️ Why Auto Mode Fails

This is part of the reason why filming in auto mode can be so bad when we're trying to shoot professional looking content. When you're filming in an area where there isn't much light, a camera in auto mode will almost always crank the ISO way too high, which yes brightens the scene but it ruins the professional look due to that god-awful noise.

With auto mode we have no say — this just happens and it's why we avoid auto mode and learn to control these settings and also add our own light to the scene to accommodate.

📷 Camera ISO Sensitivity Varies

Some cameras have better ISO sensitivity than others, meaning you can continue to increase the ISO without adding as much noise.

Example - Canon EOS R: Can bump ISO to around 1,000 before noticing too much noise

Example - Sony a7S III: Can bump ISO all the way up to 12,000 before noticing too much noise (well known for amazing ISO sensitivity)

🎯 Best Practice for ISO

When it comes to ISO, the best thing you can do is to keep it as low as possible. Only increase it when you have to because the environment you're filming in is just too dark.

Testing Your Camera: Before you ask "How high will I be able to push the ISO on my camera?" remember that the best answer to questions like this is to film a quick practice test yourself. Even if it's just your smartphone, film a few clips:

  • One at low ISO (100-200)
  • One at ISO 400
  • Another at ISO 800
  • One final clip at ISO 1200

When you review these clips you'll be able to tell pretty quickly what your line is for your camera that you don't really want to go above.

The Exposure Triangle - Complete Overview

All three settings have a primary function of controlling the exposure of your scene. Here's everything you need to remember:

Shutter Speed

  • Primary: Exposure control
  • ↑ Shutter Speed = Darker image
  • ↓ Shutter Speed = Brighter image
  • Secondary: Motion blur
  • ↑ Speed = Less blur (frozen)
  • ↓ Speed = More blur
  • Rule: 2× frame rate

Aperture (F-Stop)

  • Primary: Exposure control
  • ↑ F-Stop = Darker image
  • ↓ F-Stop = Brighter image
  • Secondary: Depth of field
  • Low f-stop = Blurry background
  • High f-stop = Everything in focus
  • Rule: Keep as low as possible

ISO

  • Primary: Digital brightness
  • ↑ ISO = Brighter image
  • ↓ ISO = Darker image
  • Secondary: Digital noise
  • High ISO = Lots of noise
  • Low ISO = No noise
  • Rule: Keep as low as possible

You can download a cheat sheet graphic to reference on the fly as your own personal guide!

You are now all caught up! We've covered everything you need to know to take complete control over three of the most important camera settings that there are.

Thanks for watching this training. I'll see you in the next one!

6 Understanding White Balance

In this module we are going to cover white balance[cite: 2]. [cite_start]To make things simple, white balance is the setting that we use to ensure the whites in our scene naturally look white[cite: 3].

⚠️ Common Beginner Mistake: Wrong White Balance

[cite_start]

Having the wrong white balance comes in at number 6 on the list of most common beginner mistakes[cite: 4]. [cite_start]Even if you nail all of the other settings we've talked about so far, forgetting your white balance can leave your shots looking totally off[cite: 5].

The Nature of Color Temperature

[cite_start]

First, remember that all light has a specific color temperature to it[cite: 7]. [cite_start]Some light is warm and orange, like an incandescent bulb, while some light is cool, like blue LEDs[cite: 8].

[cite_start]

White balance is the setting we use on our cameras to make sure that no matter what color light is hitting our subject, the whites in our scene will actually look white, which is what our eyes are used to seeing[cite: 9].

The Kelvin Scale

[cite_start]

The Kelvin scale is how we literally measure the color temperature of a certain light source[cite: 12]. [cite_start]When we set the white balance on our camera, we're essentially telling our camera what the color temperature is of the primary light source[cite: 15].

Common Reference Points:

    [cite_start]
  • Tungsten Light (Incandescent): 3200 Kelvin [cite: 13]
    • [cite_start]
  • True White Light (The Sun): 5000 - 5600 Kelvin [cite: 19]

The Problem with Auto Mode

[cite_start]

The issue with white balance comes when people forget to take manual control of it and leave the setting in auto mode[cite: 22]. [cite_start]In auto mode, our camera basically has to decide on its own what the primary color of light in the scene is[cite: 23].

[cite_start]

While cameras do a decent job in sunlight, they struggle indoors with multiple light sources, often resulting in videos that are either really orange or really blue[cite: 24, 25, 26].

💡 Anthony's Pro Tips for Clean Color

1. [cite_start]Minimize Color Mixing: Always turn off any lights that contrast in color temperature with your main light source[cite: 28]. [cite_start]If your main light is 5600K but your overheads are 4000K, turn the overheads off to prevent ugly color mixing[cite: 29, 30].

2. [cite_start]The Paper Trick: If you can't find anything white in your scene, grab a sheet of paper or a white pillowcase[cite: 36]. [cite_start]Use that object to set your manual white balance until it looks truly white on your display, then take it out of the shot[cite: 37, 38].

[cite_start]

If your default camera app doesn't let you change these settings yet, don't worry[cite: 40]. [cite_start]Keep watching, and I will outline filmmaking apps in a future module that unlock these manual controls[cite: 41]. [cite_start]These intro concepts are crucial to understand before we dive into the practical exercises[cite: 43].

Key Takeaways

    [cite_start]
  • All light has a specific color temperature (measured in Kelvin)[cite: 46].
  • Warm/Orange light is lower on the Kelvin scale; [cite_start]Blue/Cool light is higher[cite: 46].
    • [cite_start]
  • White Balance tells the camera what the predominant color temperature is so it can interpret it as true white[cite: 47].
    • [cite_start]
  • Always try to match your camera setting to your primary light source (e.g., 5600K for sunlight)[cite: 20].
    • [cite_start]
  • Avoid "Auto White Balance" to prevent the camera from guessing incorrectly[cite: 22, 25].

Thanks for watching this training!
[cite_start]I'll see you in the next one! [cite: 48]

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