Camera ISO settings
ISO sensitivity refers to the ‘speed’ of photographic film, i.e. how sensitive it is to light. Digital cameras operate using sensors rather than film, so the ISO equivalent is used, usually starting from 200 on a standard digital camera and going up to anything between 800 and 6400, behaving in a very similar way to film. The higher the number the more light the image sensor can capture. ISO sensitivity works with the aperture and shutter speed settings on your camera to let light in and expose your image.
The two images above were taken on my bed which is next to a window. The image on the left was shot at ISO 200 but because the light levels were too low for me to capture a sharp image (even with a wide aperture, the shutter speed was too slow) I used the on camera flash and it looks horrid (note the harsh shadow to the right of Jeremy). So I upped the ISO rating to 800 which allowed me to get a sharper image using natural light which has a much softer look. I would always recommend upping your ISO rather than using on camera flash as it never looks good, the only down side with a higher ISO sensitivity is that it creates ‘noise’ in your image, however if your shot is correctly exposed, this won’t pose too much of a problem. Most of the shots I take of babies are indoors using natural light at ISO 800 and above.
As a guide, it’s best to use a lower ISO of around 200 if you are shooting outdoors in day light, you might need to up it to 400 if you’re working in shade and if you decide to use natural light indoors, anything from 800 to 1600 will work well. All cameras work slightly differently, so experiment to see how changing the ISO setting affects your image quality. You can also adjust your shutter speed and aperture settings to give you more available light. If you’d like to learn more about ISO, aperture and shutter speed, these aspects of photography will all be covered on the “Focus on Photography” course I’m running from March 8th, please click here for more details.
The next blog will look at how to use ISO settings for night time and long exposure shots.
Excellent advise Emma. Thank you!