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Unlock the secret to stunning photos in low light by mastering ISO—discover how increasing your camera's sensitivity can transform your images, but beware of the surprising trade-offs. How can noise become your creative ally?
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đź“· | Main Ideas
Get ready to unravel the fundamentals of ISO in this episode
We explore the terms and techniques of Photography.
Welcome back to Photography A-Z. Ready for another deep dive? Absolutely. Always ready to explore the fascinating world of photography. Today we're tackling the I in our A-Z, and that's ISO. Ah, ISO. A fundamental piece of the puzzle, especially when you're thinking about exposure. You always hear about the exposure triangle, right? Right. The three amigos. Aperture, shutter speed, and of course, ISO. They all work together. They do. But for anyone listening who's still getting the hang of all the technical stuff, maybe they're thinking, okay, how does understanding ISO actually help me take better pictures? Well, I think the best way to understand it is to think of it as sensitivity. It's basically how sensitive your camera's sensor is to light. Okay. Sensitivity. So that means like if I'm shooting in a dimly lit room. Exactly. You need that sensor to be able to see in the dark. So do you just turn the ISO up then so the sensor can see better? You got it. A higher ISO lets you capture those images in darker conditions. Makes sense. But I have a feeling it's not quite as simple as just cranking up the ISO whenever it's dark. There's got to be a downside, right? Well, there is a trade-off, and it's all about finding the right balance. Okay. Let's talk about that trade-off. I'm guessing it has something to do with that word every photographer knows, noise. You're right on the money. As you increase the ISO, you might start to see this thing called noise in your photos. Imagine the grain you get in those old film photos. Ah, that kind of speckly look, right? Yeah, exactly. It can make your images look a little grainy or blotchy, particularly in the darker areas of the picture. So it's a balancing act. More sensitivity, but at the risk of more grain. How do you know what ISO setting to actually use? I mean, are there like specific numbers I should look for? Yeah. So there's like a standard ISO scale that you can use as a guideline. Okay. It usually starts at 100 and goes up in doubles, like 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and keeps going up from there. The lower numbers, like ISO 100, are great for bright sunny days when you've got plenty of light. Gotcha. So the higher numbers are for when it's darker. Yeah. For those low light conditions. So let's say you're at a concert and the lighting is really terrible. You might need to crank up the ISO to something like 1600 or even higher. So that your camera can actually capture what's happening on stage. Exactly. Okay. That's starting to make a lot more sense. But earlier you mentioned ISO being part of the exposure triangle, right? Yeah. What exactly does that mean? How does it all fit together? So picture a triangle. Each side is one of those crucial elements. ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. Okay. And all three of them, they work together to control the overall exposure of your picture. Exposure. So basically how bright or dark it is. So we've got ISO controlling the sensor's sensitivity. What about aperture and shutter speed? What are they doing in all of this? All right. So think of the aperture as the eye of your camera. It's that opening in the lens that lets light in. Okay. A wider aperture is going to let in more light and it's also what creates that blurry background effect that a lot of people love. The blurry background. Yeah. Now shutter speed, think of it as the blink of your camera. It controls how long the sensor is exposed to light. So aperture is how wide it opens and shutter speed is how long it stays open. You got it. And I'm guessing it's all about finding the right combination of those three to get a good picture. It's a dance. A dance. Yeah. A constant dance between ISO, aperture, and shutter speed to achieve the perfect exposure. That's a great way to put it. It's all starting to click into place. So if you increase the ISO to make your camera more sensitive to light, does that mean you can also use a faster shutter speed or a wider aperture? Yeah, precisely. It gives you more flexibility with the other two. So you can use a faster shutter speed, freeze that motion, or you can go for a wider aperture to get that nice shallow depth of field. Again, it's all about finding the sweet spot. It's a balancing act. Yeah. This is way more interesting than just reading the ISO definition in my camera manual. Right. Because it all works together. And there's so much more to it than just the basics. I bet. I have a feeling there are some pretty common misconceptions about ISO, like things that people get wrong. Oh, there are definitely some myths floating around out there. Like what are some of the things people get mixed up about? Well, for instance, some people think that raising the ISO actually changes how physically sensitive the sensor is. Wait, so it doesn't? I thought that was the whole point. It's a bit more nuanced than that. The sensor itself has a fixed sensitivity. What ISO really does is amplifies the signal from the sensor after the image is captured. Hmm. So what's a good way to think about that? Imagine turning up the volume on a recording. OK. You're not changing the original sound, just making it louder. Ah, OK. So it's not like messing with the hardware. It's more about how the information from the sensor is being processed. Exactly. Another common misconception is that you should always shoot at the lowest ISO you can to avoid that noise. Yeah, that makes sense. Right. Keep it as clean as possible. Sure. Lower ISOs will generally give you cleaner images, but there are definitely times when a higher ISO is not just acceptable, but it's actually necessary. OK, so when would that be? When would you actually want to use a higher ISO? Well, think about it. You're trying to photograph your dog running around in the park as the sun is setting. You need a fast shutter speed to freeze all that action. Right. It's getting darker. Yeah. You might have to bump up that ISO to keep your shutter speed fast enough so you don't get blur. Ah, so it's all about finding that balance between sharpness and brightness and that noise. Exactly. Sometimes a little grain is OK if it means you're going to capture that special moment. Totally. It makes total sense. You were talking earlier about how ISO gives you more flexibility with aperture and shutter speed. Right. Can you talk a little bit more about how it plays with aperture specifically? Sure. You know, I'm always trying to get that blurry background in my photos. Yeah, that bokeh. Yes, bokeh. So let's say you're taking a portrait indoors. You want that dreamy, out-of-focus background, so you need a wider aperture to get that look. Right. But what if it's still a little bit dim inside? That's where the ISO comes in. Ah, OK. By increasing the ISO, you can compensate for that lower light. OK. And you can still use that wider aperture to get the look that you're going for. So I can have my cake and eat it too. Exactly. Blurry background, well-exposed image. Even in low light. Even low light, it's fantastic. It really is about understanding, you know, not just the definition of ISO, but how to use it creatively to make your photos look the way you want them to look. It's all about control. Yeah. ISO gives you more control over how your pictures look. This is great. Now, speaking of different looks, you know, I've seen some photographers, they actually use grain in their photos on purpose. Yeah. Like to create a certain kind of aesthetic. Is that something you can achieve with ISO? Absolutely. If you think about it, back in the film days, grain was often seen as this imperfection. But in digital photography, you can actually use noise creatively. Oh, interesting. So think about those gritty, atmospheric photos that kind of have that film look to them. Oh, yeah, yeah. I love that look. Yeah. It gives you a vintage feel, kind of a little bit more artistic. And you can control the amount of grain by adjusting your ISO. A little bit of noise. It can add texture and depth, especially if you're shooting in black and white. Oh, wow. So it's not always about getting rid of the noise completely. No. Sometimes it's actually about using it to add to the mood of the photo. Exactly. You can use it to your advantage. Now, before we wrap up this whole ISO deep dive, there's one more thing I wanted to touch on, and that is shooting in RAW format. Oh, yeah. RAW files. You mentioned those before. How do they relate to ISO and managing this noise we're talking about? Shooting in RAW gives you a lot more flexibility when it comes to editing, especially in terms of reducing noise. OK. RAW files, they contain all the data that your camera's sensor captures. So there's no compression, no processing done by the camera. Ah, OK. That means you've got more information to work with when you're editing, you can make finer adjustments, and you get better noise reduction. So it's like if I shoot in RAW, I can tweak how much noise reduction I want in my photos later on when I'm editing. Exactly. That's amazing. You can use different software and fine tune everything, get a better balance between smoothing out that grain, but also preserving all the details you want in your image. This is so helpful. It's all starting to connect. ISO, RAW format, how they work together to give you more control over your photos. It's the beauty of digital. It really is. We have all these amazing tools, and understanding them can really, really elevate your photography. I feel so inspired to go out and experiment with ISO and RAW and see what I can create. Awesome. But before we wrap up this conversation, I think it would be really helpful to do a quick recap. Yeah. Just to make sure we've covered all the key points about ISO. Right. We've gone over a lot today. We have. So let's recap everything we learned about ISO. We started by defining ISO as that measure of your camera sensor's sensitivity to light. Right. And we talked about how a higher ISO allows you to shoot in those low light conditions, but it can introduce noise or that graininess. And then we went into how ISO is actually only one part of the exposure triangle. Yeah. Remember, it works together with aperture and shutter speed to get that perfect exposure. Right. And understanding how those three elements work together gives you so much more control over things like how fast your shutter speed can be to freeze the action, or how wide your aperture can be to blur the background. And we talked about some of those myths about ISO, like the idea that it actually changes the sensor's physical sensitivity. Right. And that you should always shoot at the lowest ISO possible. Of course, we can't forget about that awesome discussion about using ISO creatively. Yeah. To introduce grain for a more artistic effect. Exactly. We talked about shooting in RAW as well. Right. RAW format. How that gives you more flexibility to manage the noise when you're editing your pictures later. It's a lot to take in, but it's all connected. It is. It's amazing how much we covered. It feels like a whole new world of possibilities has opened up just by diving into ISO. I'm so glad. So if our listeners could only take away one key point about ISO, what would it be? I would say, don't be afraid to experiment. ISO is a tool. It is. And just like any tool, it can be used in so many different ways. Play around with the settings, see what happens, and most importantly, have fun. I love that. Experimentation is how we unleash our creativity. And on that note, I think we've come to the end of our deep dive into ISO. It's been a journey. This has been an incredibly insightful conversation. I hope our listeners feel like they can really take control of their ISO now and go out and capture some amazing images. Absolutely. That's it for today's episode of Photography A to Z. We'll catch you next time for another deep dive into the amazing world of photography.