What camera settings are standard for taking indoors headshots?

Question

I want to create a composite which are basically a bunch of formal headshots and I wanted to know what settings I should be using for iso, aperture, and shutter? And How I should position my lights. I'm fairly novice so I'm unsure if I'm asking the right question, I've done mostly out doors landscape shots in the past.

Answer 1

The lighting is the main thing. Choose what you want to do there (try lighting-basics) first. Then, shutter speed doesn't matter (because you are using strobes) so pick the sync speed — 180th or 250th. And because you're providing plenty of light, use a low ISO. (Going up to 400 or 800 to reduce the needed flash power to get faster refresh is fine, though.) And then that leaves aperture, which you generally set to something middling, so you get plenty of depth of field. (If you want subject isolation, again — that's in the lighting.)

Answer 2

@mattdm covered the main points of your question is his answer, but I want to mention an often overlooked aspect of indoor photography (particularly headshots done with external lighting): the quality of your backdrop. If you are planning on taking pictures of someone outside of a controlled studio setup, be very careful to not have them too close to a wall when your flashes go off. Paint is highly reflective, and will not give you the smooth looking background that you need for professional headshots.

If you don't have the standard large roll of paper used in a studio, hanging a white sheet is generally a good substitute. Just do your best to make sure there are not folds or creases in it.