Essential Videography Tools & Settings for Beginners (2026 Guide)
Everything a Beginner Videographer Actually Needs to Know
Starting out in videography is like walking into a Starbucks and the cashier listing the entire menu but your go to coffee is “black.” ISO, shutter speed, codecs, white balance, three point lighting, A-roll, B-roll — the vocabulary alone is enough to make you put the camera in a drawer and start on your next new thing. (been there)
Here’s the good news, and it’s actually good news: you don’t need all of it. You need a handful of fundamentals and you need them close by, so you’re not standing there second-guessing while the camera dies. Learn these, keep them in reach, and you go from “I own a camera” to “storyteller and filmmaker.” And it will happen fast, trust me.
#1 - Learn the Exposure Triangle First — Everything Else Can Wait
Almost every good-looking shot comes down to three settings:
Aperture (f-stop): How much light the lens lets in, and how soft your background gets. Low number (f/1.8) = more light, dreamy blur. High number (f/11) = more of the scene in focus. This is your “how cinematic does the background look” dial.
Shutter Speed: Your motion blur. Keep it roughly double your frame rate — 1/50 at 24fps — and your footage moves like a movie. That’s the 180-degree rule.
ISO: How sensitive your sensor is to light. Keep it low. Crank it and yes, your image will get brighter, but grain shows up and it’s not a good thing (this is different than film grain, please don’t hate on film grain)
If you get these three communicating with each other, you’ll be able to walk into any room and expose a shot correctly.
#2 - You Need Way Less Gear Than the Internet Says
The internet wants you to believe good work will cost four grand. It doesn’t. A decent camera — a recent phone, a used mirrorless body, anything you can find — plus a fast lens, a basic tripod, and a way to record clean sound will beat a truck full of gear in untrained hands every time.
If you’re buying gear, spend in this order:
Audio. (never skip)
Lighting. (one good light changes the entire image)
Camera and Lenses. (last on purpose)
People will forgive a soft image. Nobody will sit through bad sound. Ever.
#3 - Fix Your Audio Before It’s Too Late
This is HIGHEST priority in my book. It automatically takes you closer to becoming a professional videographer. I can’t even tell you how many times I have:
A. Mic’d a subject improperly
B. Set my levels too low or high
C. Choose the wrong kind of microphone for the setting
All those have happened. All were equally embarassing as even the subject would say “you want me to use this mic? why is it placed like that?” And of course I say to myself, “the talent is trying to tell me I don’t know what I’m doing? Pftt, I’ll show him.” Yeah, he never called me for a project again. You live, you grow, you always have to humble yourself and know it’s okay that you don’t know it all by heart. It was then during the shoot or in post-production I realized I messed up and I couldn’t fix it.
Now, your camera’s built-in mic is the weakest link in the whole chain, no exceptions.
A cheap lav or shotgun mic beats an in-camera mic. Always.
Get the mic close to your subject — out of frame.
Record somewhere quiet.
Wear headphones and watch your levels so nothing clips. Clipping is the one thing you can’t fix in post.
#4 - Light It Like You Meant To
Randomly throwing a light on your subject with no intention will ultimately look bad on camera. Try to always follow a three point lighting setup.
Key Light: Your main source, off to one side of the subject.
Fill Light: Softer, opposite the key, taking the shadows down.
Backlight: Behind the subject, taking them from the background so the depth isn’t so flat.
No lights? No problem. A window as your key and a white bounce card as a fill can easily make your image look full for the low price of absolutely nothing.
#5 - Learn a Few Composition Rules, Then Break Them On Purpose
A couple of framing habits and your shots instantly will be transformed.
Rule of Thirds: Put your subject on the lines that cut the frame into thirds, not dead center.
Leading Lines: Let roads, fences, and hallways drag the eye right into your subject.
Headroom: Leave a little air above the head and in the direction they’re looking.
Shot Sizes: Wide, medium, close-up — each one has a job. Mix them and you’re telling a story instead of staring at one flat frame.
Learn the rules so that when you break one, it reads as a choice, not an accident.
#6 - Know Your A-Roll From Your B-Roll
A-Roll is the main event — the interview, the subject, the thing actually happening.
B-Roll is the supporting piece — the details, the establishing shots, the stuff you cut to.
Shoot a ton of B-Roll. It’s the fastest way to make your edit feel expensive and well thought out. It covers your cuts, hides the jumps, and turns a plain story into one with some context.
Most Important: Keep It All In Reach.
Here’s my honest truth: knowing the fundamentals matters a lot less than remembering them in the moment — when the client’s watching, the camera’s dying, and your brain is moving 1,000mph, you have to be able to admit you need help. It’s okay to whip out your phone or a cheat sheet and do it THE RIGHT WAY first.
That’s exactly why the AVCO Videography Cheat Sheet exists — 20+ pages keeping the exposure triangle, lighting, diagrams, composition rules, shot sizes, codecs, and camera vocabulary right at your fingertips. It's the difference between guessing and knowing, on every shoot. Flat and lifeless in, rich and full out.
If you want to feel more confident on set, get the cheat sheet by visiting avco.studio.shop This was designed for every videographer, no matter the experience level. We could all use a little reminder when the pressure is on.
