I so love ISO

As a follow up to Tracey's last post, here's a bit more on ISO.

While visiting San Francisco for the BlogHer08 conference, my friend Josh Hallett, armed with his Nikon D3 and mammoth telephoto lens, suggested we shoot the Golden Gate Bridge... at night. I jumped at the chance and then remembered that I had virtually no experience shooting in the dark.

There were a few things I did know. I knew that a Flash would be useless. And I knew that I would need to use a tripod because a night shot would require a super slow shutter speed, so holding the camera steady in my hands would be impossible. I also knew enough to know that I would narrow my aperture to an f/22 because I wanted the entire scene to be in focus.

"So what's your ISO setting?" Josh asked as he deftly detached his camera from the tripod to make room for mine. 

"I don't know." I mumbled in the dark. "I've got it set to auto." Mind you, there's nothing wrong with letting your camera do some of the work, but taking control of certain settings such as aperture and ISO will make a world of difference in your ability to capture great images regardless of your lighting conditions.

The very next day, as Tracey mentioned, Me Ra Koh demystified ISO, explaining that ISO control is the digital equivalent of film speed. With your digital SLR, you can adjust your ISO setting to control the amount of light needed to capture your image. On my Nikon D80, I simply press the ISO button on the back of the camera and rotate the main command dial until it displays the setting I want (e.g., 100, 200, 320, etc.) on the control panel.

Shooting a shell on a sunny day at the beach? Set your ISO to 100 or 200. Shooting traces of a sunset at night without a tripod or your seven-year-old blowing out the candles on her birthday cake in a dim room? Set your ISO to a higher number such as 800 or 1000.  I captured the shot above with my ISO set to 1000.  Keep in mind that the higher the ISO setting, the more grain or noise you'll get in the image. If you're shooting a sunset and you do have a tripod handy to capture the serenity of the scene, you can use a low ISO setting such as 100 or 200 and just decrease your shutter speed to let more light in.  By controlling your ISO setting, you expand your ability to capture the images you want... even in the dark.

Do share your shots and tips for shooting in low light conditions in the comments. 

(Image and words by Stephanie Roberts -- uploaded by Karen)

**Please note that Tracey got her highs and lows mixed up in yesterdays post...indeed, the higher the ISO number, the MORE noise you will encounter. Ooops! Didn't mean to confuse anyone!! She vows to proof read her post next time! : )

Comments

[steph]

The last time I tried shooting in the dark was on the 4th of July, and yes, I used a tripod and set my ISO at 1000. But in the following photo, I wanted the fireworks fuzzy in the background and my son crisp in the foreground, something you can achieve by narrowing the aperture (I think I set it to f1.4). I liked the bokeh and it illustrated his relative disappointment with the lame firework finale:

http://flickr.com/photos/ssicore/2639750001/in/photostream/

[laura - dolcepics]

OOo Ooo! I wrote a tutorial about ISO here:
http://www.dolcepics.com/articles/exposure-101-iso/

One of the examples I use to illustrate when to use a higher ISO is on that post and refers to low light shots in restaurants.

I drool over the D3 or D700 with it's gorgeous full frame sensor that has incredibly clean images at ridiculously high ISO's. Mmmm... yummy!

[Marcie]

The best thing about digital is the ability to change ISO ratings at will. Sometimes they're tough to figure.

Here's one that I had to change my ISO reading to 1800 in order to get the shot:
http://bravo.unisonplatform.com/~marciesc/index.php?showimage=423

Here's one that I had to set it at 100:
http://bravo.unisonplatform.com/~marciesc/index.php?showimage=469

[e.darcy]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/edarcy/2684197370/
around a year ago, I was staying at home for a bit-and my dad woke me up to go and watch the lunar eclipse with him. Our cameras ready, taking turns on the tripod.
A red blur captured in the night sky.
I didn't know then what I know now (which is really nothing) But I've figured out a way to roll with it.
The picture I give today is a mistake, a heavy full moon spying on my through the living room window -anyway. Not a success story, but a mistake that I love..

[Amanda]

I have a love/hate relationship with ISO. On the one hand, I can get pictures like this one, handheld in a very dim restaurant without flash. The ISO was set at 1600.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amgreco92/2554403483/in/set-72157606407744002/

But that also introduces a lot of noise.

Here's one I took the other day with a tripod. I wanted a really crisp photo, so I left the ISO at 100 and set the exposure to 5 seconds.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amgreco92/2709285134/

In low light I also usually open the apeture as wide as it will go to let in the most light.

[giggletwig (corey)]

Just a question here...I was a little confused by Tracey's post yesterday when she wrote "...by shooting with a high ISO your images will have less grain or noise." I thought I had learned just the opposite, but since I'm not a professional, I figured I was just confused. Today, in your post you write, "...the higher the ISO setting, the more grain or noise you'll get in the image." So now I'm more confused. :-)

Can you clarify which is correct? Or if it just depends on the situation?

Thanks!!

[Angella]

Good explanation of ISO! I play with ISO, use my tripod when possible, and/or use my 50mm f/1.8 lens :)

[Val]

@ giggletwig, I saw that, too, and I'm pretty definitely sure that it was misprinted. The higher your ISO, the more grainy your pictures will be. That caught me off guard, too!

[giggletwig (corey)]

Thanks, Val!

[Kacey]

I like to play with shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, sometimes taking a series of shots of the same thing using different settings for each of them. Great learning experience. Here is a shot of it snowing outside this winter where I used my tripod. f22, ss 8, iso 800 with my xti (last pic on the post)

http://www.wineonthekeyboard.com/2008/04/08/the-really-cool-wooden-bench/

Here I've figured out that with my canon 40D I can use iso 640 in my kitchen, with just the kitchen lights, no flash, to photograph any recipes I add to my blog. I find I can use higher iso settings with my 40D and still get crisp photos.

http://www.wineonthekeyboard.com/2008/05/28/fabulous-swiss-cheese-fondue/

[Ashley]

I try really hard to shoot with low ISO as the grain and noise sometimes bothers me (i'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to picture-taking...)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashleydano/2669092376/

this was shot with the ISO set at 200 but the shutter was opened for 1/20 of a second. tough to keep the camera still at lower speeds, but worth the try. :)

[pam]

http://howlerpost.blogspot.com/
my most recent entry, Monday 28 08
A photo of my DD and DH as they walk down the isle during her wedding rehursal. 100iso, no flash, lots of movement. I wanted the moment to last.

[Wayfaring Wanderer]

I don't take a lot of night shots either, but last weekend I went to a little city with all sort of night life......

http://wayfaring-wanderer.blogspot.com/2008/07/quick-getaway-gatlinburg-tn.html

I have trouble with shaky hands, I normally try to find something to prop myself up against when I don't have a tripod.

[tangobaby]

I don't have a tripod yet, but I know that needs to be my next purchase in order to take decent night shots. I have not yet changed the ISO (to my knowledge) on night shots...I just use the night setting on my camera...but I will try to play more now that I have more understanding.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tangobaby2/2408957449/in/set-72157604517988945/

[Tracey Clark]

OK girls, you are all sooooo right. i wrote less instead of more or maybe I wrote higher instead of lower. Either way, I corrected myself thanks to all of you...I didn't even notice my blunder until everyone pointed it out. THANK YOU for the prompt!
YES...the higher the number of your ISO (like 1600 for example) the more grain or noise you will find.
If any of you ever shot 1600 speed B/W film back in the day know what that grain is all about. It can be cool when you want it but not cool if you don't want it.
Whew. I'm glad you're on your photo toes out there! : )

[Kirsten]

I too have a love hate with ISO...my husband is in a hip-hop group and I've been working on my photo skills in REALLY BAD LIGHTING. Here are a couple of shots that I wouldn't have been able to capure if I hadn't set my ISO high...what else is a girl to do?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/somethingcheeky/2711170361/sizes/l/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/somethingcheeky/2711952860/sizes/l/

[Sarah - Ji]

I take photos in low light situations A LOT. I have to admit that it took me a while to embrace the higher end of the ISO spectrum due to the whole grain/noise issue, but I got over that. Somewhat.

If I'm shooting subjects that are somewhat far away (e.g. outdoors), I'll often put my camera on a stable surface (i.e. the ground in non-earthquake prone regions), set it at aperture priority and let the shutter take her sweet old time. If I'm shooting close subjects, I open my aperture WIDE open (or a couple stops short of wide open). Since my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 is on my camera 99% of the time, I can open things up pretty wide.

I also shoot my images in RAW format (digital negative) to give me the most editing capabilities if I need to correct exposure in post-processing.

I just did a post about shooting in low light today too:
http://www.sarah-ji.com/blog/2008/7/27/night-light.html

[Mark Howells-Mead]

If you're shooting a scene like the Golden Gate Bridge, you don't actually need to shoot at f22 unless you're including something in the scene which is nearer than the infinity mark on your camera. Look at the following photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/2681164771/in/set-72157606263291717/

This was shot at f5.6 because pretty much the whole of the subject in the photo is a good distance away. By using a wider aperture, the shutter speed was "only" six seconds, instead of the 96 seconds you'd need for the same photo at f22. Most lenses have an optimum aperture, on which all focussing and sharpness peaks: usually around f8 or f11. Use these whenever you can. In any kind of landscape photography, whatever the lighting conditions, you should get to know depth of field, particuarly how it is affected by aperture and camera-to-subject distances. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field

Joe McNally has a great tip on how to hold your camera more steady in low-light situations, too, over at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDsx3-FWfwk

[Lindy]

You shutter sisters are psychics! I just picked up a Nikon D200 (a bit of an upgrade from my D40) and a 50mm lens and was trying to figure it out. I started reading up on ISO and playing around with taking photos at night/dark!
Here's one of my daughter sleeping- not bad for a nearly dark room- ISO 1600.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/designcrane/2715502824/