Getting enough light to your sensor is an ever evolving skill. I still mess and mess with my settings to get it right sometimes. When it's right though, usually the results are amazing!
This cute couple stopped by my home the night before their wedding to finalize some last minute details. I loved how happy and relaxed they were! On a whim I grabbed my camera and we slipped out into the misty streets for some fun and intimate shots. (You can see more from this shoot
HERE.) But this kind of shooting posed some pretty big lighting challenges! I chose this picture to illustrate this post on ISO because, while this shot was one of my favorites, you can still see some of the
noise that results when you really pump the ISO as I did for this picture.
ISO:When we use film cameras we buy film that have different sensitivities to light. An ISO 100 speed film has
low sensitivity to light and is recommended for shooting outdoors in bright sunlight or with the use of flash. An ISO 800 speed film has
more light sensitivity. But as anyone who has used ISO 800 speed film knows, you lose some quality. This quality reduction is called "
grain" in film terms or when talking about digital images it's called "
noise." You can see this in the picture above.
With film they refer to the ISO in terms of "speed" since the camera is able to shoot at a faster speed because the film is more sensitive to light. The same is true with digital cameras. However it's the data sensor and not the film that sensitivity changes in the digital format so we don't talk about ISO anymore in terms of speed.
SLR cameras, as well as most point and shoot models, have a way to adjust the ISO. This simply tells the sensor to collect more light, or have a higher sensitivity to light. When you adjust the ISO sensitivity you get more light but have to be alert to the same quality issues as with film. If you are seeing a lot of noise and still don't have enough light you probably need to somehow get light from other sources.
Basically, the
lower the ISO number the
less sensitive the camera is to light. So then the reverse is also true: the
higher the ISO number is, the
more sensitive the camera is to light. This is illustrated below:
We've talked about
shutter speed and
ISO but without an understanding of how
Aperture works you still won't be able to maximize your camera's light collecting capabilities. So next time we'll focus on Aperture because together with ISO and Shutter Speed it helps work to produce well lit photos that truly showcase the subject you are shooting!
Try finding the ISO settings on your camera and adjusting to its highest setting. Can you see a difference in your indoor photos?
This cute couple stopped by my home the night before their wedding to finalize some last minute details. I loved how happy and relaxed they were! On a whim I grabbed my camera and we slipped out into the misty streets for some fun and intimate shots. (You can see more from this shoot HERE.) But this kind of shooting posed some pretty big lighting challenges! I chose this picture to illustrate this post on ISO because, while this shot was one of my favorites, you can still see some of the noise that results when you really pump the ISO as I did for this picture.
Comments (12)
I love working with my camera to find how the light gives me diffrent feelings for the same shot. I remember the days of having to buy diffrent films for diffrent kinds of light.
Thanks for the refresher!
thanks for the great info.
I'm starting to take more pictures and one day want to get a new camera, I'm not a professional, so I would want it to be inexpensive, but moderately good. Any ideas? Great info, by the way! Thanks
i'd love to get a better camera, i have a simple PNS, olympus camedia d-595 zoom right now. it does have a manual setting, where i can adjust F- stops (?), shutter speed, and aperture, but unfortunately, ISO is stuck at 50. i'd love to be able to play with it :)
@summer_soda_like@xanga - I think a great starter digital SLR is the Nikon D40. Very reasonably priced but packed full of great features! That said, though, I highly recommend going to some place like Circuit City or Best Buy and just handling the digital SLRs they have and seeing what seems to feel right to you. Then do your research with reviews online. You'll get a better idea of what you want that way, I think. Happy Shopping!!
teaching ISO before Apeture makes it look like its an important factor. When really ISO on digital is the fakest result compared to film ISO changes.
@summer_soda_like@xanga - PEntax have made over 24 million lens over the years for their SLR camera's don't be a sheep
Thank you!!! I brought a good camera for like few years and I have no time to look at the manual...but when you explain all of these and I tried it. Now I know how to use it :) THANKS!!!!
@OwenHiggins@xanga - For the most part you would be right about ISO. But maybe it's just me and my style of shooting but I change around the ISO all the time on my Nikon D80. It has a huge range so I like pushing it way up in low light situations and getting some really creative stuff. Anyway, I did think that maybe I was getting ahead of myself by talking about ISO before Aperture. I just thought it would be a nice way to break up two big posts (on Shutter Speed and Aperture) by throwing in the relatively simple post on ISO in the middle.
I use ISO all the time-- I love shooting with a wide aperture, but sometimes indoors I still need to crank up the ISO in order to get the shutter speed high enough. Luckily my camera (Canon 30D seems to do pretty well with noise, at least if I have the picture exposed correctly.
@summer_soda_like@xanga - I would recommend one of the Canon dslrs, like the Rebel xti or the 30D. Nikons are also great, I know many people that love them, but the Nikon D40 doesn't have an internal auto-focus motor, meaning any lenses you buy will have to have their own built-in AF motor in order for you to be able to use auto-focus, which limits you somewhat and I think they're a bit more expensive. For example I think one of the best lenses to have as a parent taking pictures is a 50mm f/1.8 lens, which costs less than $100 and takes incredible shots, but the Nikon one doesn't have the AF motor built into the lens, meaning to use it on a Nikon D40 camera you'd have to focus manually which can be a bit of a pain (at least for beginners like us).
@SwissMama - Thanks! I'm going to look around for a new camera next week, I will definitely take this info with me. I really appreciate all the help.
Great info....lookin' forward to that post about aperture now