Lesson Three: ISO and Sensitivity - my thoughts

Lesson Four:  ISO and Sensitivity

                 I have missed countless photos due to a lack of flash or lighting.   Even with a flash some settings and lighting produce distorted photos with big shadows, grainy and glare.  If I understood how to use ISO when my son made his first communion the pictures would have turned out much better.

                Pictures taken at high sensitivities, when there is low light, must be taken with a higher setting like ISO 1600.  What happens is the shutter speed is slowed down long enough for the filter to gather enough light for the picture.  There is a term called “noise”.  Photos taken at higher sensitivities have more noise.  Noise is the grain that appears in the photo.   I took pictures in my living room at dusk to practice ISO with low light.  I noticed that as it grew darker I needed to use a higher ISO setting.  The problem for me was I do not have a tripod.  When the shutter takes longer to open and close there is more chance of the camera shaking and the picture to become blurred.  I had to get creative and prop my camera on various stable objects.  Sometimes it worked but most of the time the camera would shake as I waited for the shutter to close and I would end up with a blurred photo.  Until I get a tripod I will have to stick to lower ISO settings in pictures with more light to gather.

                I will definitely explore more opportunities to use the ISO setting.  I would like to take time lapse pictures of the sunset.  I know I will probably have to change my ISO setting as the light grows dimmer and I will probably need a good tripod.