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Iso
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Terms

Posted by: Simon Tags: Posted date: November 5, 2009
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The most basic rule of ISO is that it helps you expose photos correctly in lower light conditions. The use of higher ISO will enable your camera to increase it’s shutter speed to avoid blur or handshake, but at the same time, it will let sufficient light in to the camera so your photo does not end up under exposed.

A camera’s ISO function increases the sensitivity of your cameras sensor to light.. Your camera’s ISO settings are often rated at 100, 200, or 400 but go as high as 800, 1600, and even 3200 on some advanced models. For well lit scenes such as a bright summers day, you can keep your ISO low to around the 100-200 range as there will be plenty of light to expose the photo correctly. If you’re in low light conditions such as indoors or a night club, then you’d need to increase your ISO to maybe 800 or 1600.

See the example photo below, this shows the same shutter speed with progressive increase of the ISO to illuminate the photo correctly.

As you can see the image to the left is a lot darker than the image on the right. So if your location is too dark, then increase your ISO to increase the light in to the lens.

Also bear in mind that the higher the ISO the longer th

This all sounds great, but there is a trade off here, the higher your ISO the more noise you will see in your photo. Noise can be seen in the example below on the 1600 ISO rating, you’ll see coloured dots within the photo and this is why a lower ISO rating is preferable as the noise in some circumstances detract from the image itself, having said that, noise can sometime enhance a photo depending on what type of effect you’re after. For example, if you want to create an aged look to a photo, increased noise will add and enhance the overall finish.

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Simon