iPad Camera Settings
Learn the ins-and-outs of iPad Camera Settings to take control of your Fiesta captures.
With just a few small adjustments, you can deliver consistently striking photos, boomerangs, and videos, no matter the venue or time of day.
Table Of Contents
Explainer
What are iPad Camera Settings?
The iPad Camera Settings allow you to fine-tune how captures will look when running an iPad event using the Fiesta iOS app.
Default Camera Settings
Camera: Front
Exposure: Auto
White Balance: Auto
LED Ring Flash: On
Flash Brightness: 50%
Note: LED Ring Flash and Flash Brightness settings require a Salsa photo booth.
While automatic settings will result in great captures, manually adjusting the white balance and/or exposure to accommodate different venues can help provide consistency of captures in the event’s Live Gallery.
What To Know
Best Practices
Fine-tuning the camera settings before an event can make the difference between a great event and an amazing event. Follow these best practices for the best results.
Adjust White Balance And Exposure At The Event
Avoid making changes to these settings until everything is set up at the event
Differences in lighting and the surrounding environment can significantly affect white balance and exposure
Best Exposure Time Settings
Using 1/60 will provide the best overall quality
If captures appear too bright, or blown out, lower the ISO or set the Exposure Time to 1/60 or lower
Pack A Neutral White Object To Use For White Balancing
The best way to set the white balance is to have an object that can be used as a reference. This can be an index card, a small whiteboard, or anything so long as it is a neutral white.
Features
Selected Camera
iPads include both a front and back-facing camera. Fiesta is set to use the front facing camera by default.
While the back facing camera is not able to be used when your iPad is installed inside of the Salsa Booth, if you are using the app outside of the Salsa Booth, you can take advantage of the back camera for captures.
Features
Auto Exposure
When Auto Exposure is turned on, the camera will attempt to automatically adjust the brightness for each capture.
Auto Exposure will produce captures that look great on their own, but when viewed in a gallery it may result in an inconsistent look from capture to capture.
Right before each capture, the camera analyzes the lighting conditions. Lighting conditions can be affected by ambient light (the sun, neon signs in the background, lighting at the venue), the color and reflectiveness of a backdrop, and guests’ clothing.
If Auto Exposure is not getting you the result that you want, you can make adjustments to the Exposure Compensation, turn off Auto Exposure and manually adjust the exposure to fine-tune the setting.
Features
Exposure Compensation
Exposure Compensation provides a bit more control over the exposure without having to completely adjust the settings manually.
The camera automatically attempts to balance the brightness of captures by changing the exposure to accommodate differently lit environments.
This can sometimes cause captures to be underexposed – or too dark – when using light colored backdrops, if a neon sign is in the background, or if guests are dressed in brightly colored clothing.
The opposite can happen as well, where captures will appear overexposed – or too bright – when using darker backdrops or if guests are dressed in darker colored clothing.
If you want more control, you can turn off Auto Exposure to manually adjust the exposure settings.
What To Know
Manual Exposure Settings
Manual Exposure allows for greater control, resulting in more consistency between captures.
Turning off Auto Exposure will reveal the manual exposure settings for Shutter Speed and ISO.
Shutter Speed
This adjusts how long the shutter is open during each capture. Shutter speed is measured in seconds or fractions of a second, ranging from 1/8000th of a second to 1 second.
The longer the shutter is open, the brighter the capture. However, longer shutter speeds will cause the capture to appear blurry if there is a lot of movement.
Shorter shutter speeds will result in darker captures, but will appear more crisp.
ISO
This adjusts how sensitive the camera is to light. The value ranges from 0 to 2000, with the higher value resulting in a brighter capture.
However, too high of an ISO in low-light or dim conditions may cause captures to look less clear and more grainy.
Features
Auto White Balance
When Auto White Balance is turned on, the camera will automatically adjust the color temperature and tint of each capture.
Auto White Balance will produce captures that look great on their own, but when viewed in a gallery, it may result in an inconsistent look from capture to capture.
Right before each capture, the camera analyzes overall color or hue of what is in the frame. It will then adjust how warm (red) or cool (blue) the capture will look.
The temperature of a capture can be greatly affected by the color of a backdrop, ambient light, and the color of guests’ clothing.
If Auto White Balance is not getting you the result that you want, you can turn off Auto White Balance and manually adjust the temperature and tint to fine-tune the setting.
What To Know
Manual White Balance Settings
The manual white balance settings can be accessed by turning off Auto White Balance.
Adjusting the white balance will allow you to capture more true-to-life colors by controlling the Temperature and Tint.
Temperature
Temperature setting adjusts the cool (blue) and warm (red) tones in the capture. The value ranges from 3000K (very cool or blue) to 8000K (very warm or red).
If a venue has incandescent lightbulbs, guests and backdrops may look more red. In this situation, you’ll want to set the temperature to a lower value.
If the event is outside on a cloudy day or in a shaded area, captures may look more blue. In this situation, you’ll want to set the temperature to a higher value.
Tint
Tint settings adjust the color of the capture on a green/magenta spectrum. This ranges from -150 (very green) to 150 (very magenta).
Adjusting the tint is most often used when there are colored lights at the venue.
Features
LED Ring Flash
The Salsa LED Ring is your key light, the main source of light when capturing content from the booth. You have the ability to control its brightness from 0 - 100%.
It is recommended to set the Flash Brightness before making any adjustments to the exposure or temperature.
Note: If Video Mode is set to more than 30 seconds, the maximum LED Flash Brightness is 50%
