Beginner ISO Lesson
ISO-So-Sensitive
While we are psyched about exposure (you know you are), let’s throw in the other factor, ISO. Back in the day, way back in 1999, remember when you bought “Indoor” or “Outdoor” film? The difference in those films was ISO, or how sensitive they were to light. These days, with our new fancy digital cameras, we can just change the ISO rating on the fly. Instead of changing the roll of film for “indoor”, we just raise the ISO to make our camera more sensitive to light. Kind of like how we men can turn up our sensitivity at just the right moment so we don’t get into even more trouble after we say something stupid like, well, you get the picture.
So what happens when we raise the ISO on our digital camera? Let’s take a trip back to the high tech My Camera Sucks science lab (click the video below):
Another way to look at it, think of ISO 1600 as a pale 4 month old’s hiney and ISO 200 as a leather skinned fisherman’s back, a fisherman that smells of sweat and sardines and beer with a bitter mistress called the sea….which one is going to burn quicker in the sun?
Why would I use this knowledge, my camera does it for me?
If you want to take better pictures in low light, you need to get away from automatic settings. If you use automatic settings, your camera will take the easy way out and pump up the built in flash. The result is a harsh light that looks like someone illuminated with a flashlight. If you like that look, go get a disposable camera from the drug store. Instead, take some control, pump up your ISO and use aperture priority to choose the lowest aperture value, or biggest hole. The result will be a much more natural looking photo. We will get into more details about how to do that next week…