Today, we'll take a look at ISO - I did some research on the internet to find out what ISO stood for in exact terms and got a lot of what I might call double-talk. Could find nothing totally definitive. so we'll just go with ISO. We'll also take just a moment to review the little chat we had a couple of posts ago about ISO/ASA. Back in the olden days (HA) when all cameras were film cameras, one would purchase the film and have to choose what ASA they wanted their film to be. I'm telling my age here, and I do know that ASA 100 was purchased for photography in bright light and ASA 400 was purchased for low light photography. That much I remember. I don't know how high the ASA numbers went, but I do remember the ASA 400.
Well, the same thing applies to ISO - if you want to shoot in broad daylight, ISO 100 is your best choice. The lower the light goes, the higher you should set your ISO. A very high ISO will capture the photo in VERY low light, even in pitch darkness if you leave your shutter open long enough. (Getting ahead of ourselves here). So here are some test shots - to give an idea of what ISO is all about:
First, an indoor shot at ISO 100 (no flash)
And below is the same shot at ISO 1250 (no flash)
You're probably thinking - "Ya, so?" They look pretty much alike. Well, think again!
Here's the first photo ISO 100, brought up to 100% then cropped to show detail.
And below is the same basic crop from the photo at ISO 1250:
See the fuzzies in the second picture, whereas the first picture is smooth? These fuzzies are called noise. And noise is what you get at higher ISO's. The higher you go (and the darker it is where you are) creates more "noise". Some of the "noise" can be fixed in post-production (Lightroom, Photoshop and other applications), again, that's another post/another day.
Here's another example of what can happen with ISO. Below are two photos - both taken at ISO 100. The first photo is taken outdoors in full daylight. Note how the strawberry is in focus. The shutter speed was really fast at ISO 100 in broad daylight.
This second photo (below) was taken in a very low light room - same settings, same ISO of 100. Also taken hand-held. Obviously it is very out of focus. It's not out of focus because of the camera so much as it is the photographer. The shutter had to stay open for so long to let enough light in, that there was camera shake by the photographer holding the camera. (Of course this could have been prevented by using a tri-pod, but then the whole point of the exercise would not have been made).
So, the point is - try to use the lowest ISO possible, depending on the light available. As we grow in learning all this Photography stuff, I'm sure there will be many more things to learn about each of the three in the triangle - Aperture, shutter speed and ISO. For now, we have a pretty good grasp on what each is about.
The next step is to go to full Manual Mode with the camera. Fully understanding each of the three in the triangle mentioned above is necessary to be successful at Manual Mode. Before we get into that, it's important that we all check our user's manual and/or view any tutorials we can find on line so we know how to adjust all our settings while in Manual and reinforce what we've learned this far.
Looking forward to learning with us as we progress! Feel free to start a conversation in the comments section. Questions or discussion helps everybody to learn! Let's get ready to learn Manual!
P.S. Haha! Yes, I know it's a tomato! Have a good night all!
Hours logged - 1 Study and Post-Processing - 1
Total - 13.75 Total - 11.5
©CynthiaG Photography
CynthiaGPix@gmail.com
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