photography 101 {iso}
December 6, 2011 Another photography post!!! Aren’t you so excited?? I am! Typically, I tell you I’m going to post about “xyz,” then post about “x,” and take a month to post about “y.” Not this time!
I may have told you we were going to talk about exposure in the next lesson, but I think we should discuss ISO first, since aperture, shutter speed and ISO all affect exposure.
It is affect right? Even after googling affect/effect, countless times, I still drive myself crazy on which one to use. Just me?
Let’s get this ISO party started.
ISO!!!! ISO is your camera’s [specifically the image sensor] sensitivity to light.
low ISO = 100 [less light sensitive] When using a low ISO, means the lighting conditions are bright. This would be a sunny day outside or if you have a window where light pours into your house. I don’t know if I ever shoot in ISO 100 indoors, simply because there is not enough light coming into the house. It’s rare that I”m on ISO 200. Typically my camera is set to ISO 400 when indoors, using a tripod.
high ISO = 1600 [more light sensitive] Using a high ISO means the lighting conditions are dark or poorly lit. As it gets darker out earlier, I have to crank up my ISO to make up for less light. You will tend to need a higher ISO in the evening, or in a poorly lit restaurant, etc.
Why not just crank up your ISO as high as it will go to let the most amount of light in???
Good question!
You must be careful when increasing your ISO. Noise is a grainy film on the photo that results from setting the ISO too high. Just because your camera’s ISO can be set to 1600, 3200 or higher, it doesn’t mean your camera is able to produce a quality image at that level. Cameras are so tricky.
The higher you set the ISO the noisier the photo
Shoot in the lowest ISO possible, for the sharpest photos.
This next series of photos was taken with aperture + shutter speed remaining constant. The only thing that changed was increasing the ISO with each photo to show you that with every increase, more light is allowed into the camera. Now, to create the right exposure for each of these photos, I would have also had to adjust the aperture + shutter speed, but that wasn’t the point of this lesson.
So, to recap so far: Increasing your ISO allows more light into the camera, allowing you to have a wider range of adjustments with your shutter speed + aperture.
tip! increase your ISO cautiously + use the lowest ISO possible for your desired aperture [unless, artistically, you want noise in the photo]
In this next photo example, I’ve adjusted the aperture + shutter speed, while increasing the ISO to properly expose the photo. These photos are meant to show you what happens to the photo quality as ISO increases.
As you can see, it degrades as the ISO is set higher.
Sorry there are no goofy diagrams to go along with the ISO lesson. It’s much easier to explain through photo examples! ISO isn’t quite as difficult to explain or understand as shutter speed + aperture, but it’s still extremely important! If you’ve had your camera stuck on ISO 800 and have been wondering why your photos aren’t so crisp, or, if you’ve had your camera set at ISO 100, wondering why you can’t take any photos indoors, hopefully this lesson helped!
And now I just had to share a little sneak peak from my first official newborn photo shoot.
Meet 10 day old Henry.
Off to happily edit this photo set!
Ashley
Photography 101
Reader Comments (37)
On this cloudy morning, I was just playing around with ISO and discovering what worked and what did not. I am learning so much from your photography posts -- keep them coming! Are you going to give homework assignments like how you did earlier in the year ever again? That was sort of fun to participate in.
Um, that baby is so cute it makes my face hurt. Well done!
Yes! I am. I really wanted to go over the main photography lessons before "assigning" any homework. :) I've already thought of a few! I'm so glad they posts have helped you.
I love this series - keep them coming! Your examples help me visualize things, even when it's something I think I know, I'm learning a little something more. :)
Thanks for this! The difference in those close-ups is huge. I kind of figure I should be shooting in lower ISO, but it's so hard to get a bright photo that way. I can't wait to get a good tripod to hold the camera steady.
I've usually needed to adjust my ISO to a higher level, mainly because my house has the worst lighting source and because I usually shoot at concerts and it's dark in there ;) But at least I know that it's not just my camera that has problems with getting grainy when shooting at a higher ISO setting.
Sweetness! I'll definitely do the assignments -- I've been trying so hard to get nice-looking photos. Getting a tripod has helped immensely, but still figuring out light balance stuff...it's always a learning process!
Firstly, Henry is adorable! And secondly, thank you!! This is such great info and since I just bought my first DSLR, I'm definitely taking notes on all of these lessons! I'm thrilled to hear that ISO is actually a pretty simple concept!
I must admit I usually set ISO on auto. This weekend I was playing around with setting and didn't note much difference when adjusting ISO. I know that you have to set up low iso if it's bright and high iso if it's dark, but how do you know what number exactly you want to put?
Do you manually set all three (aperture, shutter speed, iso) or do you keep some to auto?
I love this photography tutorial series and I hope you do a post on focus!
Such an amazing final shot there wow! I never used to understand iso until fairly recently, I always just left it on auto. This tutorial is a great step by step and the photos really drive the point home.
Congrats on the 1st official Newborn photo shoot...that's awesome!
And the topic of ISO and noise is awesome. I really didn't get how MUCH iso impacted things until maybe 6 mos or so ago until I realized that yes, turn it wayyyy down. As low as possible. Which is the antithesis of all the fancy bells and whistles cameras that promise great images even in low light, i.e. higher ISOs..so I thought ok, maybe it's really ok. Wrong. Comparing and contrasting 100 iso vs. even 400 or gasp 1600...yeah, world's apart.
Thanks for the step by step/progressive photos. I LOVE it when you do these!
Thanks so much for all your photography posts. I took an intro class a couple of months ago and looking at all the examples is so helpful.
You should consider offering photography courses in your area - I'd sign up if I lived there :)
I love this post and it's solely because I knew it all! Yipee :) Finally starting to feel like I "get" this photography thing. A little at least ;) Can't wait for the exposure post. I seem to have the most issues with that.
Wow that picture from your first newborn photo shoot looks amazing, and Henry is adorable! That 10 day old baby has more hair than I had when I was three years old!
adorable henry!!!
and thank you so much for these tutorials, ashley! i JUST got a dslr from my husband (last night!) so i've been reading through the manual and your posts and have been playing with it NONSTOP! i love it and already see such a different in my photos compared to my point & shoot. i love it. :)
Henry is so stinkin cute! All of these posts come in handy the day I buy myself a nice camera. Someday..
Thank you for the great lesson on ISO. I love brushing up on my photo smarts from college/high school.
Henry is the most adorable little guy! Thank you so much for sharing. :)
i just need to find the time to properly go through all your photography posts! The newborn pic is great too, I love how you have really taken off with photography in loads of areas other than food- though it is a great place to practice!
beautiful baby!!!
have you played with any software ISO reduction? i *might be* getting Lightroom 3 for christmas (which means absolutely am, but would still like to act surprised), and i keep reading about their advanced ISO editing in the latest edition... i just don't know if it's hype.
After reading that whole thing, all I can think about is that wittle ten year old henry. Beautiful.
I love the picture examples - that is so helpful! Also - I cannot WAIT to see more of little Henry...how precious is he?!
So glad you didn't wait forever to get to y! Your posts are so helpful. I finally took my camera off aperture priority this week and went full manual thanks to you. And ISO was something I never really paid attention to or cared about until now. Impatiently waiting for your exposure post!
Thanks Kaitlyn!! Exposure coming next week!
I definitely fell in love with the little guy!!
I haven't! I've heard about it and heard that it does help, but also heard it's quite time intensive. Not 100% sure though!
Thanks Jo!!
You're welcome x2!! :)
You're welcome Sarah!! Congrats on the camera. That's awesome!! Have fun!!
Awesome!!! Congrats!
Oooh...focus, that's a good topic!!!!! Definitely! I manually set everything. Basically, you start to learn what you need your ISO at to get the desired aperture + shutter speed you want. I always set my ISO first. Everyone has their own process on what they do first though. Typically, when shooting indoors, I don't have to adjust my ISO. I keep it at 400, which works for my needs when using a tripod.
Question for ya! If you are indoors and shooting with a tripod, why not set it to ISO 100 instead of 400 for the sharpest photos possible? Am I wrong thinking the shutter speed will just increase but your using a tripod so it doesn't matter?
Your assumption is definitely right! :) However, when using a tripod, you can't lower your shutter speed past about 1" [1 second], without noticing noise in the photo, from the very slight vibrations in the camera when hitting the shutter release button. Now, if you have a remote actuator for the shutter release, or if you want to use the self timer, so it takes the photo after you've made the "click" then that will definitely help. However, even not touching the camera, it can pick up on the movement caused by the shutter releasing. So, basically, if I have to set my shutter slower than 1", I need to bump the ISO up and make adjustments from there. When I am using the tripod, I like to keep the shutter around 1/5, to play it safe, which usually ends up putting my ISO at 400. Sometimes I can get it down to 200 and sometimes I need it at 800. Hope this helps, Allie!
Affect = the action Effect = the noun
So basically you got it right :)
This series is awesome btw! I've been still figuring out my shutter speeds and iso and I'm pretty sure I've got it down now thanks to you. I did have a little bit of trouble getting everything set right and taking my pictures quickly while on vacation recently. I overexposed a several shots. I'm guessing that'll just come with practice though right?
I am always having to use 1600 ISO because I am always in low lighting and my hand isn't too steady! It's so annoying and grainy. Thanks again for a GREAT tutorial.
Welcome!!!
Thanks!!! No one actually commented if I got it right or not, haha. :) About the overexposed shots...pay attention to the exposure meter on your camera. Aim to get the settings where the meter is reading right in the middle. I'll be talking more about exposure this week though! And yes, it will come with practice!
[...] learning more about camera -ISO from the lovely Ashley [...]